Tips for building an urgent care?

[Angry Birds]

I'm helping a family member set up an urgent care center.
Any tips?

How many rooms should we build? The more, the merrier? What's the general trend in urgent cares?
Do urgent cares usually have CTs or just x-rays?

Any other advice or tips?

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[Make Or Break]

Check out how American family care does theirs. It depends how busy you think you might be. I think 6-8 rooms is more than sufficient though if you are seeing anywhere from 40-60 people a day. And they only have X-ray no ct.

 

[Saddleshoes]

Open early and late!
Urgent Care has become the treatment of choice for working people that cannot miss work.

 

[Tenk]

Probably 6+ rooms if possible. If you’re busy, more rooms are always nice but if they aren’t doing anything that’s just more overhead. Make sure one is a procedure room. X-ray, no ct usually.

 

[GeneralVeers]

Usually no CT, because the monthly lease for a CT scanner is many thousands of dollars.

 

[bravotwozero]

see if you can get your family member to buy a bio fire Respiratory Pathogen Panel machine. It's a PCR test with a turnaround time of less than an hour. One of the FSEDS I work at has this, and it's turned into a gold mine for him. About 80% of the patients coming there are there for this covid test, many of them travelers that need the result quickly.

 

[Angry Birds]

Thank you all for this amazing advice. Please keep it comin'!

see if you can get your family member to buy a bio fire Respiratory Pathogen Panel machine. It's a PCR test with a turnaround time of less than an hour. One of the FSEDS I work at has this, and it's turned into a gold mine for him. About 80% of the patients coming there are there for this covid test, many of them travelers that need the result quickly.

Can you explain a little bit more? Is this just for Covid or will it be even after Covid to tell people they have a viral upper respiratory infection and don't need antibiotics?[/QUOTE]

 

[bravotwozero]

Bless you all for this amazing advice. Please keep it comin'!



Can you explain a little bit more? Is this just for Covid or will it be even after Covid to tell people they have a viral upper respiratory infection and don't need antibiotics?

well the RPP as you know tests for covid as well as other respiratory viruses such as flu, rhinovirus, RSV etc. So yes, you can use it for both, which is why I believe it will retain its usefulness even after the pandemic is over, which will still take a while. Use for anyone with URI symptoms, asymptomatic people who just want a covid test, or are required to get it, symptomatic patients worried about covid etc.

Another covid PCR test you can offer is the saliva test. That is cheaper than the bio fire RPP nasal swab, but you have to send the saliva sample to a lab, with turnaround times from 24-48 hours depending on how backed up they are. You could offer both these tests in an urgent care, and use it on a case by case basis. Patient's flight isn't for another 5 days, and they need a PCR and don't want to get jabbed in the nose? Saliva test is perfect. Flying out tomorrow? bio fire. The saliva test only tests for covid though.

 

[Angry Birds]

Thanks for the clarification.

Do urgent cares do labs? Any different than ER?

 

[gutonc]

Thanks for the clarification.

Do urgent cares do labs? Any different than ER?

Some do POC stuff. Another good income stream. You can get a Piccolo XPress and a Coulter counter for <$25K for the both of them. Train your MA/front desk staff to draw the blood and run them (CLIA exempt) and go to town.

 

[Franzd'Epinay]

Thanks for the clarification.

Do urgent cares do labs? Any different than ER?

Disclaimer: I have never set up, managed, or owned an urgent care; I only have experience with the clinical side.

I'm of the personal opinion that less is more when it comes to urgent care. I don't want to get into the weeds of which specific things are appropriate, but I think you should think about who is going to staff this thing, what type of auxiliary staff will be on site, what equipment you can count on, and then work backwards from there regarding what types of complaints and tests you are comfortable seeing.

 

[Old_Mil]

Thank you all for this amazing advice. Please keep it comin'!



Can you explain a little bit more? Is this just for Covid or will it be even after Covid to tell people they have a viral upper respiratory infection and don't need antibiotics?

[/QUOTE]

If you're running a profitable urgent care, you're going to write for the antibiotics they came to get. If you don't, the guy down the street will and the next time they need to go to an urgent care, they will skip yours and go to the competition.

 

[emergentmd]

Biofire/PCR testing is expensive and takes a long time to run. I am not sure an UC reimbursement is worth the cost unless you have some known relationship with a big business who needs them. Get a rapid tests and you will have alot of people wanting the test without a wait.

Now on the FSER side, PCR/Biofire has been a boom and saved many of them from closing down.

 

[bravotwozero]

Biofire/PCR testing is expensive and takes a long time to run. I am not sure an UC reimbursement is worth the cost unless you have some known relationship with a big business who needs them. Get a rapid tests and you will have alot of people wanting the test without a wait.

Now on the FSER side, PCR/Biofire has been a boom and saved many of them from closing down.

Welp, I stand corrected. I don't have any experience with UC billing so I didn't know that.

Why would you get less reimbursement for a biofire test in an UC visit as opposed to an ED visit?

 

[emergentmd]

Welp, I stand corrected. I don't have any experience with UC billing so I didn't know that.

Why would you get less reimbursement for a biofire test in an UC visit as opposed to an ED visit?

Money is made on the facility side and very little on professional/test charge.

UC is profitable on volume, Fser on facility charge.