Healthcare Companies Are Cutting Jobs—Bringing Them Closer to a Typical Urgent Care Model

MedExpress is the latest healthcare company to announce downsizing designed to trim operating expenses. WSAZ News in Huntington/Charleston, WV reported the company is laying off all registered nurses at 150 locations as early as September 7, in concert with even more widespread layoffs in the UnitedHealth Group/Optum universe. It’s a move not likely to be adopted by other urgent care operations, which for the most part do not count RNs among their clinical teams to begin with. While some hospitals have prohibitions regarding “unlicensed personnel,” which would make employment of RNs in hospital-affiliated urgent cares more likely, for the most part UC teams are comprised of physicians, advanced-practice providers, and medical assistants. The latter are indispensable in urgent care’s quest to provide quality care while keeping costs down. To get a sense of why that matters, and whether your operation is getting the most out of that model, read Cost-Effective Staffing with Medical Assistants in the JUCM archive.