Healthcare Costs Will Continue to Squeeze the Economy; Can Urgent Care Help?

The aging population—clearly not a controllable factor—is high on the list of factors that will continue to drive up healthcare spending over the next decade, according to the just-released 2016 National Health Expenditures Report from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). National healthcare spending is projected to grow at a 5.8% annual rate, starting last year through 2025. If accurate, that means healthcare spending will rise from 17.5% in 2014 to 20.1% as a share of the U.S. economy in 2025. Looking at all the disparate factors, it appears urgent care can prepare by ensuring adequate focus on complaints common to older Americans while also continuing to stress the relative cost-efficiency of this practice setting, especially compared with hospital and freestanding emergency rooms.