Trend: Urgent care clinic industry expanding again

As partners in Physicians Immediate Care (www.physiciansimmediatecare.com), operating 12 urgent care centers in Illinois and Oklahoma, and Practice Velocity, LLC (www.practicevelocity.com), serving software solutions to over 500 urgent care centers--we have seen this second wave of growth of urgent care centers first hand. The Urgent Care Association of America (UCAOA; www.ucaoa.org) reports that there are currently over 10,000 urgent care centers in the USA, and this number appears to be growing every year. UCAOA sponsors two well-attended conferences each year to help enable startups to get the necessary tools to start successful urgent care centers. The growth appears to be due to a confluence of payors wanting to save money over the costs of emergency department visits and the desire of patients to avoid the inconvenience and expense of visits to hospital emergency departments. Most new urgent care centers are started by physicians, but there is a growing trend for hospitals to start or purchase urgent care centers, that are seen as a funnel to increase patient visits to the hospital for emergency department visits, high-cost studies and hospital admissions. Most urgent care centers offer extended hours on evenings and weekends.

The America Academy of Urgent Care Medicine ( AAUCM)www.aaucm.org, monitors on a daily bases the openning and closures of both retail centers and urgent care centers. Urgent care centers as defined by the AAUCM are facilities that are owned and/or operated by physicians for the most part. The Academy had long predicted that the retail clinics, those owned and operated by large coroporations and staffed by NPs and/or PA will not enjoy the staying power of urgent care centers. Even with the advent of "franchise centers" not owned by physicians, will eventually fall prey to the same outcome. Physicians need to be intimately involved on a daily bases inorder to assure the public they serve optimal care. To learn more about the AAUCM and its Accredidation of Urgent Care Centers, visit www.aaucm.org. The AAUCM is the only urgent care organization that is a member of the AMA and developed the specialty code UCM for "Urgent Care Medicine".