Pandemic Woes Haven’t Dampened the Outlook for Urgent Care Growth

Urgent care as an industry was on a steady growth path before February 2019. It wouldn’t be surprising to learn that subsequent low patient volumes and getting shut out of early distribution of COVID-19 testing supplies and vaccinations, respectively, put a damper on expectations for further progress—but that’s not the case. In fact, urgent care operators’ collective resilience and creativity in adapting to changing conditions (such as setting up testing or vaccination events in parking lots, dedicating specific locations to walk-in patients who were experience non-COVID symptoms, and the like) have resulted in renewed confidence. IBISWorld recently released a market research report predicting an average growth rate of 6.9% for the urgent care industry over the next five years. With your patient base eager to return to “normal,” consider revisiting outreach initiatives that were ongoing or on the horizon when the pandemic started.