‘Membership’ Medicine Can Build Loyalty, Broaden Access to Urgent Care

Offering annual “memberships” to your urgent care center can be a good move to build customer loyalty, but also to encourage patients to seek care then they need it. FastMed Urgent Care, for one, has a program wherein patients pay $35 a year to receive a $35 discount for each subsequent self-pay visit. The plan also covers spouses and children under 18 who live in the same household and provides a prescription discount card where permitted. Obviously, the plan brings in revenue with each sale, but it also gives patients an incentive to choose your location, and not one your competitors’, whenever a family member needs to see a physician today. On the patient side, deciding to see a doctor may be a more appealing prospect if they feel they’ve already made an investment and are seeing a return with every visit.