Operating an urgent care is becoming increasingly competitive. Research shows the number of urgent care centers has increased by 7 percent annually since 2019. Yet the number of urgent cares in the market isn’t the only challenge — urgent cares are also dealing with staff layoffs, fewer resources, shifting patient expectations, and reimbursement pressures. Despite all of these urgent care trends clinics can still thrive and remain profitable with the right framework in place.
Clinics must understand the factors that are influencing their bottom line, adapt to the circumstances of urgent care trends, and invest in opportunities that contribute to revenue growth.
Here are 5 trends you need to know about to increase urgent care revenue—
1. Insurance Dynamics and Urgent Care Reimbursement Trends
Most healthcare leadership is well aware of the recent pressure payers have put on the industry. The UCA Benchmarking Report survey showed that urgent care centers are more frequently being reimbursed a global case rate, regardless of how complex the patient case.There’s also an increasing trend of self-pay patients who pay cash for their treatment, driven by factors like high deductible health insurance plans and increasing interest in price transparency among patients.
Then there is the common problem of even when a patient is insured, billing may be delayed due to claim denials. According to a UCA Benchmarking Report, the most common reason urgent care facilities experience claim denials is because of the wrong insurance being billed. In fact, almost half of all urgent cares surveyed cited this as their most common reason for claim denials. Data errors and incorrect insurance ID were other issues many cited as occasional problems contributing to claim denials. Additionally, more than 55% of respondents in the UCA survey said registration errors that prevent clean claims present the largest challenge in revenue cycle management.
Urgent cares also need to stay well-informed on shifts and changes in payor-reimbursement and payment models, as this has an equally large impact on your bottom line. Make sure you’re constantly up to date on reimbursement policy and rate changes, and have strong relationships in payor leadership, as this can directly impact your contracts.
2. Shift in Patient Expectations
Today’s patients want convenience, simplicity, and ease — and even more so than in the past. In Solv’s State of Patient Engagement survey we found that 50% of parents want their children seen the same day. Furthermore, people are also looking for technology that simplifies and streamlines the patient experience. For example, 61% of patients say their urgent care experience is meaningfully improved by paperless check-in. It’s also worth noting that online reviews are crucial, given that 86% of patients say reviews play a key role as they’re choosing a healthcare provider. This percentage has steadily increased over the past five years, signaling the undeniable power of patient feedback.
3. Changing Technology and Opportunity for Efficiency
As you consider the impact of technology on your bottom line, the massive growth of artificial intelligence (AI) — and all the ways in which it is changing healthcare — cannot be ignored. AI offers opportunities to uplevel patient care, streamline your operations, and minimize unnecessary costs. While some of the technology related to patient care is more complex to implement, many AI applications are far simpler, like using AI technology to optimize your online presence, such as through sprucing up your Google business profile and improving your online ads.
Beyond AI, it’s also important to equip your staff with up-to-date tools and technology — like digital registration — that make their jobs easier, improves their workflow, and directly impacts your bottom line. According to the UCA Benchmarking Report, a higher percentage of copayments are now collected at the time of service than a few years ago, and this could be due to the availability of improved technology for verifying insurance information.
Of course you’ll need to keep in mind that while these types of technologies can save time and money for your urgent care, that’s only possible if the technology is reliable, your staff is properly trained in how to use it, and when patient-facing technology is simple and easy to use.
4. Revenue Growth through Service Expansion
Today’s consumers are increasingly looking for convenience, and this extends into the healthcare market. Growing disillusioned with the primary care model, some patients are starting to view urgent cares as a one-stop shop for convenient, on-demand healthcare. With this, they want to be able to access healthcare services at their urgent care that they may have previously visited a primary care doctor for, like routine vaccines, preventative lab tests, sports and work physicals, and annual physicals and wellness visits. By expanding your urgent care offerings to include these services, you have the opportunity to tap into new areas of revenue growth.
5. Competition in the Market
Competition is fierce in the urgent care industry — there’s no denying that. Since 2018, the number of urgent cares has grown about 7% each year, meaning there are more and more urgent cares popping up all the time. In the UCA Benchmarking report mentioned earlier, nearly 70% of respondents said they were either planning or interested in opening another urgent care clinic in 2023.
But other urgent cares aren’t the only competition these days. Now, as people demand more accessible healthcare, the competition extends far beyond your traditional healthcare providers to include pharmacy and retail giants like Walgreens, CVS, and Costco. Still, urgent cares are in a unique position to capture business given its well-established care model, in-depth knowledge of the healthcare space, and ability to offer convenient, timely, and quality care when patients need it. As the market landscape evolves, urgent cares need to leverage these advantages to remain profitable amid the intensifying competition.
Key Takeaways for Revenue Growth
Despite all the challenges within the healthcare landscape, your urgent care can survive, thrive, and remain profitable as long as you know exactly what’s influencing your bottom line and respond to opportunities for revenue growth. To remain adaptable and profitable this year, you’ll need to be clued in on:
- Insurance and reimbursement trends and changes—and how it influences your revenue
- Shifting patient expectations—and ways patient experience can equal growth opportunity
- Technology advances and how these present opportunities for efficiency
- Opportunities to expand your services, and how these impact revenue
- How to remain competitive amid increasing market competition
Dig deeper into the latest trends and discover more tips for financial health from industry expert April Gillam in our webinar, Financial Fitness: 2024 Urgent Care Resolutions
