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Urgent Care And Primary Care: Which Model Is Right For You?
Who's your doctor? Depending on the age of the person you ask, the answer could vary greatly.
Ask a baby boomer who their primary care physician is, and they may proudly name the doctor and tell you how long they've been a patient.
Ask a millennial that same question, and they might say, "Primary care who?"
Going to the doctor is not what it used to be. As the VP of franchise sales and development at an urgent care franchise, I've found that the value of long-standing patient-doctor relationships that once were the building blocks of this nation's healthcare system is changing as the line between primary care and urgent care blurs.
Under the traditional primary care model, patients usually choose a doctor through their health insurance provider's website based on who is in-network, accepting new patients and located close to their home or office. Many patients only visit a physician when they have an illness or injury that demands attention.
Traditionally, urgent care has served as an intermediary between primary care and the emergency room. Patients would seek it out for nonemergency situations such as coughs, colds, strains and sprains if they couldn't get into their PCP due to scheduling or because they needed care during off-hours or weekends.
Thanks to a shift in cultural values and demographics, traditional primary care is struggling in the United States. According to the Healthcare Cost Institute, visits to primary care doctors declined 18% between 2012 and 2016. In the 2019 report "Healthcare: Who Survives?" WD Partners found that the top three reasons given by surveyed patients for not visiting a PCP were that it took too long to get an appointment, there was an unbearable wait time at the doctor's office, and no walk-in appointments were available.
The number of urgent care clinics jumped 8% between 2017 and 2018, according to Urgent Care Association data reported by Business Insider. (Full disclosure: My company is mentioned in the article.) They suggest 89 million patients visit urgent care clinics each year, which account for more than 29% of all primary care visits in the country to nearly 15% of all outpatient physician visits.
The idea of these healthcare entities as two separate things seems to be going away. Urgent care now often crosses over in the primary care space, with a more comprehensive scope of services beyond the convenience and ease of access it became known for.
Many urgent care centers are able provide X-rays, lab work and prescriptions all in one visit and under one roof. Consumers may prefer convenience over credentials and provider continuity, and when urgent care is the only medical care administered to a patient, urgent care turns into primary care.
Health insurance companies are also at play in the shift away from primary care. Patients sometimes see less benefits and higher premiums while doctors see a reduction in pay. In order for physicians to make a profit, they might increase the volume of patients they see, which increases wait times and decreases face-to-face time during visits. Insurance companies might also interfere with the best course of treatment because they don't cover certain procedures.
A recent poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 45% of adults between 18 and 29 did not have a primary care physician (compared to 12% of those aged 65 and older). It is a stark contrast to the 82% of adults between 50 and 64 who did claim to have a primary care physician.
While 80% of participants in the poll from WD Partners stated they had visited a primary care clinic for care in the last six months, they named urgent care clinics as the second choice for care over an emergency room.
Given the small number of urgent cares available to millions of healthcare consumers, I believe this number shows a growing interest in urgent care as a serious primary care physician alternative.
If you are considering a primary care or an urgent care as a long-term business model, there is one main point to take into account: How does the area you want to do business in perceive primary and urgent care? The first point to consider is that some regions perceive urgent care and primary care as two separate things. In some areas, for example, I've found that the view of urgent care is very specific. "I broke something." "I cut something." It is basically considered a replacement for an emergency room. In others, urgent care and primary care are viewed as one and the same, with the only difference being one facility does not require an appointment (urgent care) while the other often does (primary care).
The idea would be to choose the option that best suits your area. If that option happens to be primary care, begin the education process early for your patients to let them know that there is a gray area where the urgent care and the primary care overlap. That way, you have the ability to expand into urgent care when your market softens to the idea. I believe living in the overlap is where you can have the most flexibility for your patients, provide the highest value to your patients and have the highest chance for business success.
Once you know what patients think about each concept, you know what hurdles you will have to overcome. Knowing what your competition does allows you to offer a point of differentiation. If the competition follows a basic urgent care concept of "treat 'em and street 'em," a primary care provider can beat them on service. If the competition is typical primary care, an expanded urgent care model could beat them on service and convenience.
It is possible to strike a balance and achieve "the best of both worlds" when it comes to healthcare. You can expand your services so that prior to the point where patients need a specialist, you can handle all their healthcare needs. Ultimately, the need for terms like urgent care and primary care becomes obsolete -- you just provide medical care.
Pender County Announces Record Visitor Spending For 2022
Pender County set another record year of tourism spending in 2022 (Photo: WWAY) Pender County Business and Trade Expo Show PENDER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Pender County Tourism has announced another record year in visitor economic impact.
Since 2018, over $100 million has been spent each year in the county, with the overall number growing each of those years.
Pender County spending increased by 14.7 percent from 2021 to $189.66 million in 2022.
"The tourism industry in Pender County continues to grow and once again, visitor spending hit an all-time high in our county," said Tammy Proctor, Pender County Tourism Director. "Tourism is driven by natural resources and outdoor recreation, history, agriculture and aquaculture, and film. Pender County offers visitors all these attractions."
Statewide, visitor spending in 2022 rose 15.2 percent to reach a record $33.3 billion.
$19.8M For A Pender Island Mansion With Working Farm And Vineyard
A custom-designed waterfront mansion on Pender Island has just hit the market for $19,800,000 and it comes with a sprawling 105-acre property – impeccably maintained by a live-in caretaker named Terry.
The primary home on the property at 3200 Clam Bay Rd. Is only one of a number of buildings on the site – which features trails winding through old-growth trees, an organic farm complete with a large farmhouse, a vineyard, a barn that has been converted to an event space with a stage and dancefloor, a sawmill, and a handful of historical structures.
The listing agents, who are with Sotheby's International Realty, say the property has evolved over time but has been a working farm since the 1870s. Evidence of that history remains, Realtor Paul Hague says.
"On the beach are the original settler homes – little tiny shacks that they built back in the day to live on the edge of the water while they cut the forest down and got the land prepared," he told CTV News. There are three of these small cabins, one of which has been maintained as a one-bedroom accommodation heated by a wood-burning stove.
One of the original buildings is seen in this photo by Lionel Trudel Photography for Sotheby's International Realty.
The sawmill that was used to cut the trees from which those small shacks were built also remains on site, and is still operational.
The property has passed through a series of owners over the years, and after the latest purchase in 2011 the owner hired Blue Sky Architecture to design a 7,000-square-foot west coast modern home overlooking the bay.
"They took the site and designed a home specifically to fit on the site and fit with the land and created, I would call it, a work of art," Realtor Nicole Eastman says, noting the lack of sharp angles, the use of local woods and massive windows designed to bring the outdoors in as some of the elements inspired by the landscape.
"It blends quite seamlessly with the trees and it doesn't look out of place."
The living room of the main house is seen in this photo by Lionel Trudel Photography for Sotheby's International Realty.
A bedroom in the main house is seen in this photo by Lionel Trudel Photography for Sotheby's International Realty.
A massive pier and commercial-grade dock allow access by either boat or float plane and the waterfront portion of the property spans just under a kilometre. Orcas, humpbacks and other marine life are said to be occasional visitors.
Before the new home was built, a farmhouse was the main residence on the property. It's still there, and Hague says it might be his favourite place on the lot.
"I love it. It's so welcoming and warm. The kitchen is like an old-style Italian, big house kitchen where you would go and have a bunch of pasta and sauce and wine and have all your friends at the table. It's just so inviting," he says.
"The house has got a wrap- around veranda which overlooks the vineyard. You get on the property and really never want to leave."
The interior of the farmhouse kitchen is seen in this photo by Lionel Trudel Photography for Sotheby's International Realty.
The porch of the farmhouse is seen in this photo by Lionel Trudel Photography for Sotheby's International Realty.
A pond with a fountain in its centre overlooked by a cedar gazebo that is currently set up as a home gym are also located on this part of the property.
The vineyard is leased to a local winery, which employs staff to harvest the grapes.
The remainder of the farm produces Haskap berries which are sold to a local cidery, as well as plums, apples, and pears.
"It's a lot of land," Eastman admits.
The farm and vineyard are shown in this photo by Lionel Trudel Photography for Sotheby's International Realty.
Hague points out that's where Terry comes in.
"It is so clean and so well-maintained. There's nothing out of place, honestly. The caretaker Terry lives on the property and he keeps it dialled in, it's beautiful," he says, adding that there are two other caretakers who live off-site.
"There are three people total who are making sure everything's always at its best," Eastman says.
The sheer scale of the property and everything on it makes it almost defy description.
"We can say all we want about the house but there's nothing like being on the property and the experience of being there," Eastman says.
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