The Urgent Care Surge
Managed Care Mag April 30, 2019
They are touted as an alternative to emergency departments. Private companies are seeing an opportunity. But are urgent care centers meeting a demand or creating one?
Floor-to-ceiling windows line three sides of the glass and steel front of one of the newest urgent care centers in Massachusetts. In the resort town of Falmouth (winter population of 30,000 but almost three times as many in the summer), ConvenientMD opened the latest of its 15 urgent care centers in New England.
On one of Falmouth’s busiest streets, ConvenientMD built this two-story structure last year, replacing a former BP filling station. One day in late February, the waiting room was empty except for three long couches and dozens of black fabric and steel-legged...