Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Amazon is Licensed as a Wholesale Pharmacy Distributor in a Dozen States

Though they’ll need to acquire additional licensure before they can start shipping prescription drugs to customers, Amazon has been licensed as a wholesale pharmacy distributor in 12 states. Regulators in Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, and Tennessee have all given their blessing. Obviously, this has raised conjecture that the virtual retail giant has big plans to make a name for itself in healthcare delivery. Analysts say …

CVS–Aetna Merger Would Have Implications for Urgent Care

Neither company has confirmed it, but The Wall Street Journal reports that CVS Health has offered to buy Aetna in a deal that could have vast implications in the retail health and insurance marketplaces. The combined company would have much stronger bargaining power when negotiating deals with health systems, payers, and pharmaceutical companies, than either company does alone. For starters, as the WSJ article points out, CVS’s pharmacy benefit management arm would see “a huge …

Concentra, U.S. HealthWorks Join Forces in an Urgent Care/Occ Med Megadeal

Two major players in urgent care and occupational medicine are being joined together by their respective ownerships. Select Medical Holdings Corporation and Dignity Health have agreed on a definitive agreement to combine Concentra Group Holdings, LLC, an occupational medicine and urgent care service provider, with U.S. HealthWorks, Inc., which offers services in the same sectors. There is some geographical overlap, such as in the Milwaukee and Nashville markets, but locations are more complementary than they …

Five Star Will More Than Double in Size

Five Star Urgent Care, which currently operates 17 urgent care locations, is opening 18 more in New York and Ohio after already converting an existing primary practice to an urgent care center. The company is ironing out leases for the rest, and expects to complete the growth spurt by late 2018. The company has found the areas in which the new centers will be located to be underserved by healthcare providers in general. The move …

Walgreens Gambles on Providing Urgent Care Services in Las Vegas

Walgreens, which has established a presence in the retail clinic market by outsourcing most such operations in its stores to third parties, is upping the ante on direct patient care with plans to open higher-acuity walk-in clinics in Las Vegas this year. More on the order of an urgent care center, including the capability to provide x-rays and offer stitches, the four locations will be operated by MedExpress and connected to existing Walgreens drugstores, but …

New Urgent Care Location Rolls into Richmond—Literally

If nothing else, DispatchHealth’s approach to providing urgent care takes the educated-guesswork out of selecting the right location. The company is preparing to start offering mobile urgent care in Richmond, VA later this month. The idea is to reach patients who may not have the means or mode of transportation to get to an office location. The two vehicles currently at the starting line will be driven by DispatchHealth physician assistants and nurse practitioners, accompanied …

New to the Area? Invite the Neighbors Over

Often, neighbors welcome people who’ve just moved into the neighborhood by dropping by with a basket of muffins or inviting them over for coffee. Castleview Hospital in Price, UT is turning that on its ear, though, by inviting residents living near its new urgent care center over for an open house. The family-friendly festivities will start right after a ceremonial ribbon-cutting, officially opening the site to the public. Staff will be on hand to meet …

New Urgent Care Center Focuses on Dentistry for the Uninsured

Recognizing a need in the community and a chance to get an established patient base, the A.T. Still University-Missouri School of Dentistry and Oral Health (ATSU) is partnering with Affinia Healthcare on an urgent care clinic for uninsured people with dental problems. As with more traditional urgent care operators, the idea of the Centene Charitable Foundation Urgent Dental Care Center is to eliminate waiting periods for patients in need, but also to discourage people from …

Opportunity for Urgent Care Growth May Be Greatest in Rural Areas

There is a rare opportunity for a “transformative urgent care brand” to lock up market share in rural areas across the U.S., according to McGuireWoods, a public affairs consultancy. In fact, that was one of the nine key takeaways from their 12th annual Healthcare Provider Conference in Charlotte this month. Observing that urgent care operators have largely focused on growth in urban areas, McGuireWoods predicted that the next big opportunity will be in underserved rural …

HCA Targets Central Florida for Urgent Care Growth

HCA Healthcare is investing more resources in its urgent care business in central Florida, with plans to open four new centers, as well as three new freestanding emergency rooms, by the end of 2018. The company says it’s a sound move based on data indicating residents of Orange County and Seminole County don’t have sufficient access to primary care, including walk-in care. CareNow, HCA’s urgent care brand, already operates one location in Winter Springs in …