Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Building Urgent Care Referral Relationships: Pharmacies and Retail Host Clinics

Urgent message: Viewing other community healthcare providers (e.g., pharmacists) or even possible competitors (e.g., retail clinics) as referral sources can increase revenues and bolster the urgent care center’s place in the healthcare system. The first of two parts. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc Urgent Care has evolved to the point that it is a vital part of a community’s healthcare infrastructure, offering access when primary care appointments are unavailable and relief when emergency rooms are …

Creating a Web Presence to Raise Awareness of Urgent Care

Urgent message: A robust – and effective – advertising campaign needs to take full advantage of all available media, with special consideration of online opportunities. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc In the past, advertising was a simple proposition; nearly everyone attached the same network television, read the same city newspapers, and searched for businesses in the Yellow Pages. But in recent years, such “mass marketing” has yielded to new marketing channels targeting the lifestyles and …

Putting Patients First: Redefining Quality in the Patient Experience

Urgent message: Patients are the ultimate judges of the quality of care you provide, and the opinions are likely to be swayed by factors that have little to do with your clinical expertise or skill. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc Service industries – from retail stores to restaurants, hotels, and even banks – have embraced the customer’s point of view by meshing contemporary design, cutting-edge technology, and process engineering to develop services that are increasingly …

An Introduction to Urgent Care Advertising

Urgent message: Unlike many other practice models, urgent care must appeal directly to the customer to stay “top of mind” and be the first option the patient considers when a need arises. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc Urgent care is a healthcare delivery channel built around the needs of consumers – “retail,” from a marketing perspective – with convenient locations, evening and weekend hours, walk-in service, the capability to treat a range of illness or …

The Front Office: Window to Your Practice

Urgent message: Patients will return again and again—and tell their friends, too—if your center’s manager and employees are unfailingly courteous, com petent, and thorough. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc, Experity If you’re planning to own and operate an urgent care center, you’re probably not thinking about managing an administrative office. Instead, you envision yourself hurrying between exam rooms, suturing cuts, setting fractures, and dispensing orders. Digging your way out of paperwork, refereeing staff disputes, tracking …

Managing Wait Times for Greater Customer Satisfaction

Urgent message: Though patient waits are often unavoidable, understanding and addressing the causes can help mitigate negative impact on the patient and the practice. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc, Experity The term “urgent care” conveys immediate medical attention, so it’s no surprise that the greatest determinant of customer satisfaction for an urgent care center is how quickly patients are treated and released. But how does a busy walk-in clinic which must be prepared to handle …

Minding Your (Urgent Care) Ps and Qs

Urgent message: Appropriate attention to place, product, price, promotion, people, and quality help ensure the right approach to facilitating the success of your practice. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc, Experity Bartenders in British pubs have a custom of reminding eager patrons to “mind their Ps and Qs”—to watch how many pints and quarts they consume, so as to avoid creating a tab they cannot pay. To assure a satisfactory return on their investment, urgent care …

Playing to Win: Maximizing Profits in Urgent Care

Urgent message: The financial health of your practice depends on a balanced approach that takes into account both increasing income and reducing expenses. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc, Experity From an economic perspective, the independent urgent care owner/operator has a dual goal: to build the long-term value of the medical practice while maximizing cash that can be taken out of the business in the form of income. To achieve both of these goals—to expand revenues …

Boosting Revenue by Working Harder—or Smarter?

Urgent message: With careful consideration and disciplined planning, ancillary services can add to your bottom line without significantly adding to your workload. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc Practice Velocity Could Charles Dickens’ discourse provide a better depiction of the urgent care business today? Unprecedented growth in recent years proves the value of a healthcare delivery model like urgent care, based on consumer needs for affordability and convenience. But urgent care is not immune from challenges …