What Will the Future of Healthcare Look Like?

As the urgent care industry rebounds from years of constant fluctuation and change, there is one question on everyone’s mind: What will the future of healthcare look like?  

In this issue of Urgent Care Quarterly, we use industry data and survey results to look to the recent past and help predict that future. Here’s what we know:  

• During the public health emergency (PHE), healthcare consumers turned to urgent care to get the on-demand care they needed more than ever before. As a result, we’ve gained more patients and secured the trust of those that were already our customers. 
• Practices were able to adapt to the constant changes in volume and adapted processes to manage COVID-19. In fact, some clinics shattered traditional daily visit volume benchmarks with 12% of clinics seeing more than 100 patients per clinic per day. 
• We counted on data and reports more than ever to help us navigate the day-to-day healthcare landscape. 
• We emerged stronger, securing our position as the destination people turn to for on-demand healthcare.

Here’s a taste of what’s inside the full issue. We share the results of our first Urgent Care Industry Survey. We asked urgent care leaders across the country to share their experiences delivering healthcare in 2021 to learn their biggest challenges, the ways they changed their businesses and if the changes were successful, and how they see the future.  

And we explore current visit volume data and how urgent care clinics can continue to capitalize on the influx of new patients to grow and elevate the status of urgent care on the healthcare landscape. 

Some highlights:  

Clinics are expecting to see more patients during 2022

More than half of urgent care practices expect to see 15,000+ patients this year — that’s an average of 41 patients per clinic per day — a large increase when compared to pre-COVID industry averages of 38 patients per clinic per day.  

Twenty-seven percent of you expect to see more than 20,000 patients this year. That averages nearly 55 patients per day, or an increase of nearly 44 percent over 2019 historical data. Experity is forecasting that by 2023, urgent care clinics will average about 47 visits per day — and later in this report, we’ll explain how and why.  

Visit Volume is the top data set used by urgent care clinics

We asked clinics how they leverage data and automation in their everyday practice and their plans for using technology in the future. You told us that visit volume is the top data set you use in your practice — 83 percent put this at the top of the list. 

Consistent use of tech is number one challenge for clinics

Nearly half the urgent cares that participated in our survey told us their biggest technology challenges are the consistent use of their tech tools across their teams at 41 percent, closely followed by user experience at 40 percent.  

Urgent care visit volume is above historical baseline

Beginning in April, clinics began to see an uptick in visits vs. the three-year historical baseline. As of May 1, 2022, the seven-day trailing average for daily visits per clinic per day is 45 vs. the historical baseline of 36. This does include COVID-19 visits. 

The urgent care industry’s ability to pivot in a crisis elevated urgent care, increased visibility into the benefits of on-demand care providers and offered an unprecedented opportunity for growth. To make the most of these new patients and keep visit volume up, urgent care clinics must find ways to continue the relationships they built during the pandemic and ensure patients return for more than COVID-19-related prevention, testing, and care.  

To get the full report and five keys to successfully maintain high visit volume and retain patients, download the latest issue of Urgent Care Quarterly.  

Get the Full Urgent Care Quarterly Report