From Click to Care: Designing a Modern Urgent Care Patient Journey

In urgent care, delivering high-quality care quickly has always been the goal. But today’s patients want more than just efficiency — they expect a frictionless experience from the moment they search for care to the moment they pay the bill. For urgent care centers, this shift presents both a challenge and an opportunity:

How do you meet rising consumer expectations while maintaining operational efficiency?

At Urgent Care Connect 2025, Experity executives Jonathan Moss, EVP of Growth and Operations; Ian Lyman, SVP of Consumer Strategy and Innovation; and Kevin Clark, SVP of Strategic Partnerships shared their expertise and mapped out what a modern, digital-first patient journey should look like — from the first search to the final follow-up.

(Psssst you can register now for UCC 2026 and get preferred pricing.)

1. The Patient Is a Consumer — Treat Them Like One

Today’s urgent care patient is also an Amazon Prime member, an Uber rider, and a Netflix subscriber. They’ve been trained to expect:

• Instant access
• Transparent pricing
• On-demand service
• A personalized, mobile-first experience

As Jonathan Moss put it during the Adopting a Consumer-Centric Mindset session:

“Patients are becoming consumers, and they expect the same convenience and control they get from every other service in their lives.”

That doesn’t mean healthcare has to feel transactional — in fact, the right technology can increase human connection by freeing up staff and providers to spend more meaningful, one-on-one time with patients. But it does mean clinics must optimize for ease and efficiency at every touchpoint to make that connection possible.

2. The Patient Journey Starts on Google, Not at Your Front Desk

For the majority of patients, the journey begins long before they walk into your clinic — it starts with a search.

According to industry data shared at the event, 70–80% of patients begin their search for care online. That makes your Google Business Profile and local SEO presence one of the most critical (and most underutilized) pieces of your patient acquisition strategy.

To meet patients where they are:

• Optimize your Google listing with accurate hours, services, and insurance info
• Encourage satisfied patients to leave Google reviews (they improve both trust and ranking)
• Use reputation management tools to respond to feedback and increase visibility
• Ensure your booking link is prominent, mobile-friendly, and always up to date

Your website and local listings are no longer just digital assets — they’re your new storefront. And patients will judge your brand before they ever hit “book.”

For help with local SEO, download our eBook Local SEO & Keyword Tactics for Growing Your Urgent Care Clinic >>

 

3. Remove Friction at Every Step

Kevin Clark challenged operators to “think like a brand” — not just a provider. Just like Amazon made checkout effortless and Netflix made discovery automatic, urgent care must reduce unnecessary friction across the entire patient journey, from first click to final bill.

One example? Online booking.

At the conference, Experity shared results from a six-month experiment across 38 urgent care clinics, aimed at improving conversion in the online booking process. By testing different configurations of form fields, appointment slot types, and visual design elements, the team was able to directly measure how small adjustments impacted patient behavior.

The results were striking:

• Click-to-book rates (patients who landed on the booking page and scheduled) increased from 40% to 51%
• Click-to-visit rates (patients who scheduled and actually showed up) jumped from 30% to 37%

That’s seven more visits per 100 patients — without changing marketing spend or expanding hours. The only difference? Less friction in the booking flow.

So what changes made the biggest impact?

✅ 1. Simplify the Booking Form

Long or complicated forms are conversion killers. Many patients abandon the process when asked for too much too soon. Instead:

• Ask only for the essentials to secure the visit (e.g., name, phone, date of birth, visit reason)
• Delay insurance and ID upload until check-in or confirmation
• Avoid multi-page forms if possible — one screen is best

✅ 2. Hide Wait Times (or Reframe Them)

Visible wait counts can backfire. If a patient sees “45-minute wait,” they may bail — even if that’s a perfectly normal delay. Instead:

• Offer estimated appointment start times (e.g., “We’ll see you around 3:15 PM”)
• Frame wait updates in real-time terms (“Now serving patients who booked at 2:45”)

The goal is to set clear expectations without discouraging action.

✅ 3. Offer Flexible Scheduling Options

Not every patient wants to get in line immediately. Some prefer a later time that fits their day. Clinics that only offer first-available slots often miss out on patients who would have booked later in the afternoon or evening.

To fix that:

• Offer both “next available” and “choose a time” options
• Include a calendar view for same-day and next-day availability
• Don’t limit online booking to only a narrow part of your schedule

✅ 4. Don’t Over-Throttle Your Online Slots

Many clinics intentionally limit the number of appointments available online — fearing overflow or loss of control. But too much throttling creates artificial scarcity, leading to missed visits.

Instead:

• Open up a realistic share of your daily capacity for online booking
• Use dynamic throttling tools (if available) to balance walk-in and online flow
• Regularly review online slot utilization to spot missed opportunities

Reducing friction isn’t just a UX best practice — it’s a direct path to higher volume, better patient satisfaction, and stronger financial performance.

4. Offer More Than One Way In

A key theme across both sessions was choice. Not every complaint needs a full in-clinic visit — and not every patient wants one.

In fact, 45% of urgent care patients say they’d prefer a virtual option when available. During peak hours, weekends, or flu season surges, virtual care can be a powerful safety valve to:

• Prevent long waits
• Keep throughput high
• Capture visits that would otherwise go elsewhere

Whether through telehealth or asynchronous care tools, creating more flexible entry points increases access and retention — especially among younger patients.

 

5. Make Payment Part of the Experience — Not the Pain

Patients today expect their medical billing experience to feel like shopping online — not mailing a check.

That’s why credit card on file (CCOF) adoption is on the rise. It allows clinics to:

• Collect patient balances faster
• Reduce A/R days and avoid collections
• Deliver a cleaner, more predictable experience for patients

Even in rural settings, the strategy works. One large urgent care group shared that with the right scripting and staff training, they reached 85% CCOF adoption — and saw a corresponding drop in missed collections.

6. Treat Reviews Like a Marketing Channel

Patients don’t just read reviews — they trust them.

• 84% of patients trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations
• 75% use reviews as a first step in choosing care

That makes your review strategy part of your visibility strategy.

To build momentum:

• Use tools like Experity’s Patient Engagement software to request reviews automatically
• Train staff to ask for feedback in person
• Monitor and respond to reviews regularly to build trust and improve ranking

This isn’t about vanity — it’s about growth.

 

Final Thoughts: Great Patient Journeys Build Great Brands

At its core, urgent care is a service business. But in the consumer economy, the experience is the product.

As Kevin Clark reminded attendees:

“Urgent care doesn’t have a national brand. You are the brand.”

By rethinking the patient journey — from first click to final follow-up — clinics can build not just better visits, but better loyalty. Better reviews. Better results.

The future of urgent care isn’t just fast. It’s frictionless.

Give My Patients a Frictionless Experience