Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

“Why Are You Calling Me?” The Problem with Patient Transfers in Urgent Care

Lee A. Resnick, MD, FAAFP According to the 2012 Benchmarking Survey from the Urgent Care Association of America, about 4% of urgent care patients are referred to an emergency department (ED) for ongoing care. Some get there by personal vehicle, and others are transferred by emergency services, private ambulance, or other critical-care transportation. Given an average patient volume of 40 patients per day for a single urgent care center, that is 1.5 ED transfers per …