Posted on Business Insider

• The popularity of urgent care clinic business model has been on the rise as the demand for cheaper alternatives to hospitals grows.
• The number of urgent care facilities increased from 6,400 in 2014 to 8,100 in 2018, with another 500 to 600 expected to open this year.
• Millennials are leading the way driving demand and increased utilization of urgent care centers.

Urgent care industry trends & statistics in 2019

Interest in the on-demand, affordable care of urgent care clinics has been growing rapidly. According to the Urgent Care Association(UCA), the total number of urgent care centers in the U.S. reached 8,774 in November 2018 — up eight percent from 8,125 in 2017.

Laurel Stoimenoff, PT, CHC, CEO of UCA, says that urgent care clinics handle about 89 million patient visits each year, which includes more than 29% of all primary care visits in the US, and nearly 15% of all outpatient physician visits.

And nearly all of those visits are more convenient and affordable than a trip to the ER; the UCA's 2018 Benchmarking Report found that more than 70% of patients waited less than 20 minutes to see a provider at an urgent care center, and nearly 94% were seen in less than 30 minutes. Overall, 85% of urgent care centers patients are taken care of in under an hour.

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