Slideshow: How to Open an Urgent Care Center

The book The Healthcare Executive's Guide to Urgent Care Centers and Freestanding EDs, by Michael F. Boyle, MD, FACEP and Daniel G. Kirkpatrick, MHA, FACHE, is a step-by-step executive-level guide to planning, building, staffing, marketing, and managing profitable urgent care centers and freestanding EDs.

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Market competition plays a role in the development and expansion of both urgent care centers and freestanding EDs. Entrepreneur physicians and investors target markets capturing the insured population, similar to the boutique hospital competition for orthopedic, cardiovascular, and oncology services.

Until now there have been limited choices for patients seeking access to immediate care, so by default hospitals have been receiving the revenue from paying patients for the treatment of minor ailments. Now, competition from urgent care centers can erode the patient population utilizing traditional hospitals for these services and result in financial struggles for these same hospitals.

Healthcare executives should consider what the needs will be for the influx of newly insured Americans as a result of PPACA. Urgent care delivery models are one solution to providing cost-efficient medical care for those that are insured, on Medicaid, Medicare, or self-pay.

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