Bisnow June 4, 2019
Urgent and ambulatory care facilities are driving patient traffic away from main hospital campuses and into retail centers, but even the two burgeoning sectors in healthcare treatment aren’t immune to disruption.
The number of Massachusetts urgent care clinics grew from 18 to 145 between 2010 and 2018. Retail clinics, which are usually just staffed with nurse practitioners, went from 20 to 54 in the same period. The migration of treatment away from a main hospital is cost-effective as urgent care visits typically cost $150, with patients getting a $33 copay, according to the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission. Hospital emergency room visits typically cost just shy of $900.
But panelists at Bisnow’s National Healthcare New England event Thursday said...