Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Find Prime Locations for Rapid Urgent Care Growth

Urgent message: Using a data-driven approach to predict performance, taking advantage of openings in traditional retail spaces, or utilizing resources like BTS to develop a standalone center greatly improves a growing urgent care chain’s potential profitability and long-term brand success. Alan Ayers, MBA, MAcc is President of Experity Networks and is Senior Editor, Practice Management of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. A “stagnant business” is a “dead business” (or, in the words of former Notre …

As COVID Turns Endemic, Investors Remain Bullish on Urgent Care Growth

Urgent message: De novo growth of urgent care continued through the pandemic. As COVID turns endemic, investors remain bullish on urgent care growth. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc Despite concerns about fluctuating visit volumes and long-term sustainability, uncertainty and urgent care have always gone hand in hand. Case in point: Largely driven by flu, the urgent care industry has firsthand insight into years of flu research, seasonal trends, and vaccine efficacy. Yet amid everything we …

Why Private Equity and Other ‘Smart Money’ Is Bullish on Brick-and-Mortar Urgent Care

Urgent message: Despite the current seasonal, postpandemic lull in volume, sophisticated investors are focused on the long-term growth prospects of urgent care in terms of new rooftops, new patient populations, new services, and new payers…among others. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc Even for those who are “tenured” in the urgent care industry—the last 24 months of the COVID-19 pandemic have been a rough ride. If 100% were baseline volume, the average urgent care saw volume …

Your Best Investment Is Growing Your Own Business

Urgent message: Many urgent care operators took full advantage of opportunities to serve their communities during the pandemic, accumulating cash in the process. While many question what comes next, there’s no better time to grow your own urgent care business. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is President of Experity Networks and is Senior Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, and within …

Thinking About Buying or Selling an Urgent Care Center?

Urgent message: While market conditions for mergers and acquisitions are currently “hot,” variability in urgent care volume attributable to COVID-19 has led to changes in how deals are evaluated and structured. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is President of Experity Networks and is Senior Editor of the Journal of Urgent Care Medicine Nationally, merger-and-acquisition activity has set a record pace across all industries since the start of the pandemic. Corporations, private equity funds, and buyout …

Addressing Fraternization in the Urgent Care Workplace

Urgent message: Whereas sexual harassment is defined as unwanted and one-sided, many times employees choose to become romantically involved, requiring that urgent care centers have a policy and a plan to address workplace fraternization. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is President of Experity Networks and is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. In 2019, McDonald’s fired its Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook for engaging in a relationship that violated company policy. The …

What Does a Hybrid Workforce Look Like for Urgent Care?

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine and is President of Experity Networks. Urgent message: As COVID-19 has enabled many non-patient-facing employees to work from home, now urgent care operators must grapple with returning some of those employees to the office or otherwise managing a “hybrid” workforce. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed every facet of daily life. Although its impact on the world of medicine is …

Understanding the Benefits and Risks of Direct-to-Consumer Testing for Urgent Care

Urgent message: Urgent care centers equipped to draw blood and collect other specimens are well positioned to create new revenue streams related to the booming direct-to-consumer lab movement. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is President of Strategic Initiatives at Experity. People are taking more responsibility for their health than ever before. Whether that means practicing wellness promotion activities or actively seeking care without referrals, today’s healthcare landscape looks much different than it did 20 years …

The Dangers of Mistaking Metrics for Strategy

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. Urgent message: While metrics are essential for measuring a business strategy’s effectiveness, losing sight of the strategy in favor of a sole focus on the metrics carries the risk of undermining the very objective the strategy was meant to achieve. “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” Or …

The Case for an Interprofessional, Postgraduate NP/PA Fellowship in Urgent Care

Christina Gardner, DHSc, MBA, PA-C; Alexandra Nassif, PA-C; Connie Brooks, MSN-FNP; and Kim Roe, MBA, RRT Urgent message: Postgraduate fellowship programs are essential to the development of highly trained providers who can support the ongoing growth of the urgent care marketplace in the midst of a national physician shortage. However, historically there have been view available to nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Introduction A 2017 report of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), predicted …