Economics of an Urgent Care Center in a Market of Emergency Departments

A visit to the emergency department (ED) is usually associated with negative thoughts by most people. It creates preconceived images of overcrowded waiting rooms and routine long waits for treatment (Jarousse, 2011). From 1996 to 2006, ED visits increased annually from 90.3 million to 119.2 million (32% increase). During this same time period, the number of EDs has declined by 186 facilities creating the age old lower supply and greater demand concept (Crane & Noon, 2011). There are many contributing factors that have led to an increase in ED visits. A few of these key drivers include lack of primary care access, rising of the uninsured population, dwindling mental health services, and the growing elderly

Providers in an urgent care center may not be aware of your child’s medical history, and you or your child might forget to note incidents on a questionnaire when you see a new doctor. Plus, your child has a relationship with their pediatrician and might be more comfortable seeing a doctor they already know.

Urgent Care: In essence, an urgent care clinic bridges the gap between visiting the emergency room for a life-threatening injury and visiting your primary care physician that may require an appointment weeks in advance. Urgent care clinics offer an array of services from performing physicals and providing flu shots to treating minor

Emergency departments are units that specialize in emergency medicine that account for the majority of inpatient admissions to hospitals. The Centers for Disease Control found that emergency department visits increased by a staggering 20 percent in the first decade of the new millennium. In 2011 alone, there were roughly 136.3 million Emergency department visits nationwide. Of that, about 11.9 % resulted in hospital admissions and another 2.1% resulted in transfers to other hospitals and facilities. Patients with private insurance only made up 34.9% of total visits, another 54.4% were covered by Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program and another 32% fell under the category of no insurance which includes only self-pay, no charge, or charity as payment sources (National hospital ambulatory… , 2013). It is noted the total percentage of payment method used exceeds "all visits" because more than one source of payment may be reported per visit and was included in both statistics.

There is still a lot of confusion when it comes to what types of medical issues urgent care clinics can handle. Basically, whatever conditions your primary care physicians can handle, a walk-in clinic can handle.

(2013). Deciding to Visit the Emergency Department for Non-Urgent Conditions: A Systematic Review of the Literature. The American Journal of Managed Care, 19(1),

Patients with a primary medical care home are not using the emergency rooms for primary care. Those patients, whose health conditions are managed through medications, are receiving routine care

If you find yourself dealing with an unexpected injury or illness, then you may not be able to make an appointment with your doctor. The good news is that you can visit a urgent care Coral Gables to get the care that you need. The urgent care is made up of highly-qualified medical doctors, nurses and technicians who can treat a wide range of illnesses.

Northwell Health has partnered with GoHealth to instate urgent care centers throughout the tristate area. GoHealth is an existing organization with locations throughout the country, their partnership with Northwell Health has developed new locations to meet the needs of the communities currently served by Northwell Health. Urgent care units are designed to be accessible and convenient; becoming a part of the community. In the past, patients did not have an option but to visit an emergency room, the development of urgent care units offers an alternative. The idea behind urgent care units is to shift the notion that emergency room visits are for all injuries; only severe injuries should be treated in an emergency room. Such units reduce the crowdedness

In my experience working in the Emergency Room as a technician, I have witness people abusing the healthcare system and utilize the Emergency Room as their primary care provider. Various reasons would bring these patients in, whether they are uninsured, illegal immigrants, or is unable to get an appointment with their doctors due to unavailability, inflexible office hours, or just unwilling to endure long waiting hour. Ideally, the Affordable Care Act that has newly insured 30 million people would alleviate the issue of individuals using the Emergency Room for nonemerging needs; however, without addressing the workforce shortage in primary care setting the influx of newly insured patient would just over flow the system. Although urgent cares

Urgent care is a developing trend on how individuals have access to medical care on a non-emergency basis. Typical health problems will occur outside of business hours which are contributed to the leading cause of patients in the emergency room. Gaining access to a physician after-hours is considered poorly in the U.S. Now, urgent care clinics are on the rise and accessible with treating patients after-hours, over the weekend, and on a first serve basis. Urgent care offers convenience for people that need care but is not life-threatening rather than visiting the emergency room department. Using urgent care facilities can help reduce the wait time it takes to be seen by physicians and the costs. On the contrary, many challenges come from using

The medical field is an ever changing market with new competitors entering and competitors leaving every week. If you have ever had a minor illness or minor injury after five-o’clock or on the weekend, I’m sure you experienced a wait in an emergency room for the non-emergency care, because as you would expect patents in an emergency room setting are treated according to the extent of their illness or injury. This wait in emergency rooms and the lack of primary physicians has fueled the growth of Urgent Care Centers all over the United States. Ardmore Urgent Care plans to get in on the explosion of growth for this segment of the Medical field. This growth began in the mid -1990’s, fueled by the public’s wish for medical

The Emergency Department (ED) overflows daily with people seeking immediate medical attention. There are some who may present with life-threatening illnesses while others utilize the ED as a source of primary health care. The ED has become the only guaranteed access to health care for 44 million uninsured Americans and has led to the overcrowding of emergency departments (Trzeciak & Rivers, 2003). To prioritize incoming patients and to identify those who cannot wait to be seen the use of the Emergency Severity Index (ESI) in the emergency department was conceptualized. The emergency severity index is an acuity based model that assigns a level by the triage nurse to patients presenting to the ED for treatment. ESI is a tool used by emergency

Many of the patients with chronic conditions, do not have a primary care physician or a 24-hour access to a provider that knows their unique needs, and they seek care at a local emergency room when they become symptomatic. The research conducted at the Harborview Medical Center has shown that “the mean number of ED visits per week decreased significantly between 2009 and the period assessed in 2010, from almost 0.07 visits per week in the earlier period to just over 0.04

Services like Same Day surgery or an emergency visit which can also be provide by a private doctor they are performed the same under the same regulations and quality of care) Differences might be that if there is a complication on the patient’s health while doing the procedure or during the ER stay hospitalization will be ordered by the doctor to improve the patient’s health and make them stable again