End of 2018 Saw More Health Systems Pour Money into Urgent Care Offerings

Feeling the pressure to improve outcomes while simultaneously cutting costs, an ever-growing number of hospitals and health systems are investing heavily in urgent care. Of particular note are four health systems that splurged in the fourth quarter of 2018. Becker’s Hospital Review highlighted the following in a recent post:

• San Francisco-based Dignity Health partnered with GoHealth Urgent Care to buy six urgent care centers operated by Golden State Urgent care.
• McLaren Health Care, in Grand Blanc, MI, announded plans to open urgent care centers, retail health clinics, and primary care offices in several Walgreens stores throughout Michigan.
• As we told you recently, PeaceHealth(Vancouver, WA) is buying Zoom+Care, a Portland, OR-based on-demand urgent care, primary, and specialty care provider.
• Tower Healthfinalized its acquisition of Premier Urgent Care’s 19 urgent care centers in Pennsylvania.

JUCM is going to address a related topic in launching a new editorial page in our February issue. Urgent Perspectives will incorporate the viewpoints of urgent care thought leaders and stakeholders on matters that affect your practice and your business every day. The first topic will be the intersection of hospitals and urgent care. Look for it in your mailbox, or online February 5.