A high-level view of the urgent care landscape in the New York Times last week cited not only the urgent care market’s growth but also its benefits. The news item calls out the 60% increase in patient visits from 2019 to 2020 as well as the impressive revenue projections for this year—estimated at $48 billion. CityMD’s chief medical officer explains in the interview with NYT how patients seeking services at an urgent care center can be seen and treated faster than if they were to go to the emergency department. Man-on-the-street interviews conducted by reporters in the city noted that patients view the immediacy of UC delivery as a big advantage over waiting days to get an appointment with a primary care provider. Other patients said that UC offers a less judgmental setting than their family doctors.
Here’s an idea: Urgent care has long been a patient-centered setting that offers consumers the convenience and the peace of mind they crave. However, an editorial piece on MedPage Today from a professor of medicine at Weill Cornell opines that perhaps it would also be a good idea for the healthcare ecosystem to improve upon both the primary care and the emergency department experiences – so patients feel those two settings are still attractive options. The author cites the inability to get same-day appointments, waste, inefficiencies, and overcrowding in emergency departments as the main culprits.