Study shows impact of urgent care centers on nonemergent ED usage

Dive Brief:

• A new study suggests urgent care centers are impacting the use of emergency departments for minor illnesses and injuries, but only in locations with multiple UCCs.
• The multistate study by the National Bureau of Economic Research compared nonemergent ED use when UCCs were open and closed. The results showed a 1.4% uptick in ED visits after the last center in an area closed for the day — or about 2.4 million ED visits annually. The effect was limited to privately insured patients, the primary targets of UCCs.
• The study — the first to measure the effect of UCCs on ED use, according to the researchers — could inform strategies to reduce use of expensive ED services...

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