Are Educated Citizens More Likely to Become Urgent Care Patients?

Urgent care clinicians and owners are ratcheting up efforts to enlighten their potential patient base on the benefits and value of urgent care. Local media outlets have been awash recently in physician-penned articles explaining what presenting complaints can be managed in the urgent care setting vs those that truly need the resources of an emergency room. Now some operators are taking their message to the streets by conducting live patient education seminars. Case in point: One clinic in Yakima, WA invited residents to an event where providers explained the depths of their resources, answered questions, and distributed literature—including the clinic’s address and phone number—that patients could take home for easy reference the next time a visit to either urgent care or the ED was warranted. Another clinic in Milford, CT hosted a “Dinner with the Doctor” program with a similar message. Given that few would choose to wait longer and pay more money for the same level of care, it stands to reason that educating potential patients in your neighborhood could benefit both those families and your business.