Urgent Care Continues to Adapt as Needs Related to the Pandemic Evolve

Some urgent care operators, especially those in hard-hit areas like New York City, have been in the thick of the fight against COVID-19 from the start. Others experienced dramatic drop-offs in patient visits (and still may be) before developing plans that would allow them to serve their communities in new and different ways; classifying some locations as testing centers and launching telemedicine services allowed them to continue bringing in revenue while providing much-needed care. Now some are moving into the next phase as the healthcare system continues to understand more about possible moves that could help. ClearChoiceMD, GoHealth, PM Pediatrics, Priority Urgent Care, and Velocity Urgent Care are among those who have announced they’re ready to offer antibody tests in at least some locations. While the clinical benefit of widespread antibody testing is yet to be determined, the fact that national, regional, and local urgent care operators are able to assess the situation and mobilize to offer whatever aid they can speaks to both the maturity and the resilience of the industry—attributes that speak well of its ability to ride the storm out.