Can a DFW Airport Urgent Care Location Take Off?

Code 3 is gambling that opening a pair of acute care facilities at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)—an urgent care center and a separate freestanding emergency room—will help profits soar. However, some industry experts are skeptical that the airport has the right stuff. Code 3 says the clinic should open in August, while the goal for the ED is to open by the end of the year. While urgent care centers in airport locations are becoming more common, this would be the first emergency facility in a U.S. airport. Code 3 reasons that with 60,000 workers on site every day—plus 60 million passengers passing through annually—the site is prime real estate for walk-in care. DFW administration is all for it, and even requested that the urgent care center include a pharmacy (which the company was happy to oblige). Code 3 CEO Carrie de Moor, MD, also notes that DFW is “about the size of Manhattan.” While she views that as an asset, some urgent care insiders think it could be a hindrance, as DFW passengers are scattered among several buildings, with no central terminal. The Code 3 urgent care clinic would be in Terminal D, while the ED would be built near the airport’s administration office. That factor, plus availability of existing urgent care just off the airport grounds and logistical concerns, has kept other urgent care players from trying to set up shop at DFW until now.