Becker's Hospital Review

53 Executive Briefing Sponsored by: P atients increasingly demand care be delivered how and when they want it. Health systems that deliver on this demand are rewarded with patients' trust and loyalty. Building a modern urgent care platform delivers on this demand. At the first healthcare touch points, this patient loyalty and trust gets converted into downstream referrals. While downstream steerage generated by consumer preference is dwarfed by the steerage generated by clinician recommendations, it is the consumer that is making the choice about where, when, how and with which clinician the first healthcare touch point will occur. Once that first touch point has occurred, studies show the vast majority (83 percent) will follow that provider's clinical referrals. 1 As such, the first healthcare touch point has unique influence. In a competitive environment, whoever controls the first touch points will be able to best influence the secondary decisions and thereby garner the largest share of patient relationships. Historically, first touch points have been either in physician offices or emergency rooms. As health systems seek to influence patients' healthcare decisions, strong primary care physician enterprises are developing. Unfortunately, traditional, scheduled clinics are finding it hard to adapt to the growing demands for convenience from younger, well-insured populations. Instead of building their delivery model around the desires of the patient, most traditional clinics are built around maximizing provider schedules and the clinical needs of the patient; convenience has taken a back seat. As a result, an ever-growing portion of first healthcare touch points are occurring in channels like urgent cares, often outside the traditional health systems' sphere of influence. Health systems wanting relationships with these younger, privately insured populations must be willing to meet them where they are along their healthcare journey. Regardless of the clinical enterprise's desire to connect everyone with a long-term physician relationship, responsive health systems will recognize they cannot form loyal relationships through experiences which leave the individuals unsatisfied. A health system-developed modern urgent care platform is a solution to one of the major first touch delivery channels. Modern urgent care characteristics The modern urgent care platform is distinctly different from legacy urgent care models. The modern platform is designed first around the patient's needs. Combining convenience, access, predictability and clinical needs, modern urgent care platforms offer a segment of the population the approach to care that they have been demanding. As a result, characteristics of the modern urgent care platform reflect both high levels of patient satisfaction and standalone economic results. Unlike the legacy urgent care sites which health systems have typically operated at a loss and with low patient satisfaction, the modern urgent care platform is a clinically appropriate, safe, effective and standalone profitable model designed around the needs and desires of each individual. Modern urgent care opportunity Across the U.S., a late 2016 study of urgent care supply and demand by Urgent Care Partners demonstrated a 22 percent shortage of urgent care sites in markets suitable for profitable urgent care sites. This translated to a need for 1,600 additional urgent care sites to meet demand. 2 Reviewing undersupplied markets identified in the 2016 Urgent Care Partner's study — including central Illinois, St. Louis, Seattle, Spokane, WA., Bismarck N.D., and southern California — shows significant new urgent care site development has occurred since late 2016. For example, since the study was completed, two providers in St. Louis — Total Access Urgent Care and the Mercy/ GoHealth partnership — have already added 17 sites, while reportedly planning to add nearly 20 more. Clearly the demand for urgent care continues to grow and outstrip supply. Moreover, a modern urgent care platform will strip volume and patient preference from any of the approximately 6,000 legacy models currently being operated today. Health System Growth: The Modern Urgent Care Platform 1 Forrest, Christopher B et al. "Specialty referral completion among primary care patients: results from the ASPN Referral Study" Annals of family medicine vol. 5,4 (2007): 361-7. 2 Beckner, Chiara and Peterson, Luke C. "Urgent Care Demand in 2016" Becker's Hospital Review August 24, 2016 By Will Elder, of Urgent Care Partners & Luke Peterson, of Health System Advisors 53 Executive Briefing

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