In the northern Ohio market, University Hospitals (UH) has paired with WellStreet Urgent Care to open a flurry of UH-branded urgent care centers in suburban locations. Within 2 years, the joint venture is aiming to have 36 UH urgent care centers open across the region—directly competing with the existing 36 centers currently operated by UH rival Cleveland Clinic, according to Cleveland.com. UH has selected sites near its primary care offices to better close the loop on referrals. Additionally, more urgent cares can certainly translate to more referrals to nearby UH hospitals or emergency departments when necessary. WellStreet ranked 9th nationwide in terms of the number of rooftops, as previously reported in Urgent Care’s Top 100 by JUCM.
Ups and downs: As an industry, urgent care continues to grow with 14,928 centers operating in the United States right now, as per the Urgent Care Association. The UH urgent care expansion comes at a time when retailers are reconsidering their in-store clinic strategies. Walmart’s health centers and Walgreens’ VillageMD clinics are among the most significant closures this year, opening up that much more market share for new urgent cares to capture.