A record 11,150 urgent care centers have popped up around the United States and they are growing at 7% a year.
If you drive down a busy suburban strip mall or walk down a street in a major city, chances are you won't go long without spotting a Concentra, MedExpress, CityMD or another urgent care center.
People are also reading… Urgent care sites are often staffed by physician assistants and nurse practitioners. Many also have doctors on site. Urgent cares usually offer medical treatment outside of regular doctor's office hours and a visit costs much less than a trip to the emergency room. Frequent visits to urgent care sites may weaken established relationships with primary care doctors. They can also lead to more fragmented care and increase overall health care spending, research shows.
They have become more popular over the past two decades in part due to pressures on the primary care system. People's expectations of wait times have changed and it can be difficult, and sometimes almost impossible, to book an immediate visit with a primary care provider. Additionally, passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 spurred an increase in urgent care providers as millions of newly insured Americans sought out health care. Private-equity and venture capital funds also poured billions into deals for urgent care centers, according to data from PitchBook.
Mehrotra research has found that between 2008 and 2015, urgent care visits increased 119%. They became the dominant venue for people seeking treatment for low-acuity conditions like acute respiratory infections, urinary tract infections, rashes, and muscle strains. The National Health Law Program, a health care advocacy group for low-income families and communities, has called for state regulations to require coordination among urgent care sites, retail clinics, primary services, and hospitals to ensure continuity of patients' care.
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