The U.S. healthcare system is constantly evolving – for instance, in the past two years, in a wave of mergers and acquisitions, hospital chains and insurance companies have acquired urgent-care centers, and there is a nationwide spread of urgent care facilities as a result of health systems partnering with independent urgent-care operators. The American Academy of Urgent Care Medicine (AAUCM) estimates 50 to 100 urgent care clinics are opened per year, with almost 10,000 operating at present.
Urgent care providers, often positioned in convenient neighborhood locations and offering flexible opening times that cater to working individuals, are capable of treating a broad spectrum of non-emergency ailments such as strains, sprains, minor fractures, fevers, and wounds requiring minimal stitches. Though not a substitute for emergency care, which predominantly deals with potentially life-threatening conditions and injuries, urgent care is an increasingly attractive option for patients who require and expect immediately accessible 24/7 healthcare.
Urgent Care Trends in California
The Golden State is no exception to the growth trend, and has proven ripe for urgent care consolidation. In May 2016, the VA Health Care System partnered with CVS Health to launch an initiative at its Palo Alto, CA, branch that will facilitate veterans’ access to same-day appointments.
Furthermore, earlier this year, GoHealth Urgent Care also announced its expansion into California by way of a joint venture with Dignity Health. Meanwhile, Providence Health & Services partnered with Exer – More than Urgent Care, which operates centers staffed by physicians trained in emergency medicine, to launch clinics that will provide a viable alternative for Providence’s Southern California patients whose conditions may be serious but not critical.
In part, the burgeoning popularity of urgent care centers has been precipitated by a surging demand for both primary and emergency care providers. Some have attributed the uptick in demand and subsequent extended wait periods to the introduction of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which has seen a whole segment of newly-insured patients seeking care and placing a strain on facilities. Others contend that a prevailing cultural shift is driving the need for less stringent primary care scheduling that aligns with the busy schedules of today’s working population.
Not to be overlooked, the costs of treating a patient in an urgent care center are often a fraction of those incurred by a trip to the emergency room – for those who are uninsured, or have limited coverage, this is a significant factor.
Cognizance of the tangible benefits that urgent care centers provide to patients has caused healthcare systems to acknowledge their staying power, sparking the aforementioned proliferation of partnerships that is advantageous to various stakeholders: Healthcare systems reduce their competition and costs; meanwhile urgent care facilities enjoy the stability of being financially backed by a larger business entity. Finally, patients are afforded the benefits of fast, efficient care that is often just around the corner and does not require an appointment. It’s no wonder that private equity firms rushed to invest more than $3 billion into the sector between 2008 and 2014.
As a $16 billion-a-year industry, and with a projected 3.5 percent annual growth over the next decade, urgent care represents one of the fastest-expanding segments of the American healthcare system. In short, we can expect to see a lot more of these clinics popping up in a neighborhood near us.
The urgent care center buying binge could help hospital operators become a more attractive partner for insurance companies and employers to do business with during a period of unprecedented consolidation. This could be a game-changer for the healthcare industry—more and more Americans are gaining healthcare, and urgent care centers are helping save employers and insurers money by giving patients an alternative to hospital emergency rooms.
Author Ann Whitehead, RN, JD, is Vice President of Risk Management & Patient Safety at the Cooperative of American Physicians, Inc. (CAP) in its CAPAssurance, A Risk Purchasing Group, program that offers hospitals, large medical groups, and other health care facilities access to top-rated liability protection and risk management services.