Health Spending Predictions Favor Urgent Care

The next decade will see national health expenditures grow 5.6% annually, according to projections from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), ensuring that the need for cost-effective, high-quality care will continue to grow as well. If CMS’s Office of the Actuary is correct in its estimate, the jump in healthcare spending will outpace projected growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 1.2%. The portion of the GDP consumed by healthcare spending is expected to grow to 19.9% by 2025. The data assume that the proportion of the population with health insurance grows from 90.9% to 91.5% over that same period. Given the well-publicized challenges of keeping hospital bills down when too many patients run to their local emergency room with a sore throat that could be treated faster and more efficiently in an urgent care center, the data can arm urgent care operators with ammunition in negotiating contracts with payers and inform plans for further growth across the industry.