Urgent care clinics first appeared in the 1970s, and now are one of the most popular healthcare business opportunities. Urgent care visits are becoming much more preferred to ER visits by patients worldwide, creating a boom for the industry. Not only does this growth improve service options for patients, but also provides more healthcare business opportunities for physicians.
Over the last few years, patients have gotten fed up with their healthcare options. Primary care clinics can be hard to get appointments for, and the hours often don’t accommodate working families’ schedules. Sometimes, patients know they just need antibiotics for an ear infection or a renewal of a prescription, but they must jump through hoops to get the care they need.
On the other end, if patients elect to go to the emergency room for care, they often must wait for hours in uncomfortable situations and the bills can be sky high. Unfortunately for the patients that are in pain, if you have minor injuries such as broken bones, you’ll get pushed to the side for those with fatal conditions.
All this waiting is likely unnecessary. A 2009 study reported that up to 29 percent of all emergency department visits were unnecessary and could be handled in an urgent or primary care setting. More recent studies have found this percentage is only increasing.
Emergency room visits are also increasing, while the overall number of hospitals and ERs have declined. Urgent care centers are there to fill in the gap, creating important healthcare business opportunities. Patients can save about $4.4 billion per year by opting for urgent care facilities over a trip to the ER.
Urgent care centers allow patients to get the same level of care they need from a primary care clinic or the ER, but more efficiently and for cheaper. Instead of waiting for hours, they can show up and have treatment within 30 minutes. These clinics are located in more convenient places for busy families, so they can easily stop by before work or after school, and even on the weekends.
Patients around the country are clamoring for more urgent care centers in their areas, so they can receive the care they need wherever, whenever. Those who are looking to help patients in their area while establishing a business should look into healthcare business opportunities. The industry can only keep growing, and now is the time to get in the door.