Forbes Picks Up on Urgent Care’s Ongoing Growth

The country’s most recognized business publication has picked up on what we’ve been sharing with you all along: The urgent care market has done nothing but grow in recent years, to the point that it’s overall value is now estimated to be $18 billion. Forbes just ran an article also noting that the most recent industry projections see further growth of 5.8% in this year alone. Forbes observed that our industry is not only growing upward, but expanding to include “newer” entries like Walgreens Boots Alliance and UnitedHealth Group. The already-good news is amplified when you consider that the $18 billion estimate may actually be conservative, given that it’s based on a count of 7,639 urgent care centers; some industry insiders say there are actually thousands more across the country. The article quoted figures from the Urgent Care Association of America’s recently published white paper, The Essential Role of the Urgent Care Center in Population Health. It reasons that urgent care is likely to become more popular with insurers as time goes, as it presents “yet another way to keep patients healthy and out of the more expensive inpatient hospital setting.”