{"id":2607,"date":"2019-03-31T18:16:51","date_gmt":"2019-03-31T22:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/?p=2607"},"modified":"2019-03-31T18:17:17","modified_gmt":"2019-03-31T22:17:17","slug":"caring-company-5-essential-steps-to-open-an-urgent-care-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/caring-company-5-essential-steps-to-open-an-urgent-care-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Caring Company: 5 Essential Steps to Open an Urgent Care Center"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2018, the number of urgent care centers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthexec.com\/topics\/care-delivery\/us-urgent-care-centers-experience-8-growth\">grew by 8%<\/a> from the previous year. As more patients turn to urgent care services, these numbers will only continue to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are many benefits to urgent care centers. They help patients save money, free up space at the ER, and tend to be a quicker and more convenient option. As a result, these benefits have increased the demand for urgent care in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a doctor or someone in the medical field, you may be interested in setting up your own urgent care center\u2014but you have no idea where to begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t worry. Below is an urgent care startup checklist. Follow these five steps on how to open an urgent care center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Location, Location, Location<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the most important first steps when opening an urgent care center is finding the perfect location. Some locations will logically make more sense than others. You don\u2019t want to pick an office in a remote area, far from any patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The best spots for an urgent care center are busy, high-traffic locations, such as retail centers. You also need to consider the demographics of the area and how many urgent care centers already exist. You don\u2019t want to open one in an already overly saturated market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to the location, you also need to consider the size of the leased space. It is suggested that urgent care centers have approximately 3 exam rooms per physician, a waiting area,&nbsp;and space for other services the center will provide. This can include radiology, laboratory, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finding just the right amount of space is critical because you also don\u2019t want to be paying for any wasted, unused space. To find out more on what you should do before buying or leasing an office space, .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Licensing and Credentialing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that you have a location, you need to figure out what licenses you will need. Opening any new business can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hansonbridgett.com\/Publications\/articles\/2014-08-health-care-urgent-care-center.aspx\">require multiple licenses<\/a> depending on the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since this is also a healthcare facility, there may be additional licenses required, such as one for dispensing meds. You can check with your state licensing board to determine exactly what licenses you will need to open an urgent care facility. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You will also need to get your center credentialed. Credentialing means that the physicians and urgent care center can bill a patient\u2019s insurance company and receive payment from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In order to be credentialed, the center must submit an application to the insurance company. The insurance company will then complete its own analysis to determine if the physician or center meets their requirements. If they do, they will be considered an in-network provider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It can take months to get all your licenses and credentialing. Make sure you account for this time ahead of scheduling your opening date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Equipment and Services<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Urgent care centers now focus on a wide range of services. Many do cosmetic procedures, allergy testing, weight loss management, and more in addition to the traditional urgent care services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some centers also dispense their own medicine and have their own labs. Other centers offer other services like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.housecalldoctorla.com\/urgent-care.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">24 hour urgent care<\/a> or even house calls.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having multiple services like this helps grow your business and your clients. In order to offer this wide range of services, you\u2019ll need to order the associated equipment to go along with these services. Because of this, it is best to determine exactly what services and equipment you will offer early in the planning stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Staffing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Every successful business must have an all-star staff. In order to open an urgent care center, you\u2019ll need to determine how many physicians, physician\u2019s assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, and medical assistants you will need based on the size of your center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to medical staff, you will also need someone in charge of office management as well as the billing. It is also extremely beneficial for new urgent care centers to hire an experienced bookkeeper to set up and implement a billing process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. Marketing Before You Open an Urgent Care Center<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, before you open your urgent care center, you need to focus on marketing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the best ways to market your urgent care center is creating a website for it. When looking for a drop-in appointment, many patients will search online for an urgent care facility. Having an attractive website with valuable content will help increase the patient traffic to your center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also advertise in local papers. Another . Many small offices hand out branded merchandise to their patients, which helps spreads the word of their business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Open Your Urgent Care Center Now<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s no easy feat to open an urgent care center, but it is a highly rewarding business opportunity. You can help those in need while also growing your business and profits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have more questions or need further guidance on setting up your own business, please .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2018, the number of urgent care centers grew by 8% from the previous year. As more patients turn to urgent care services, these numbers will only continue to grow. There are many benefits to urgent care centers. They help patients save money, free up space at the ER, and tend to be a quicker [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,39],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2607"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2609,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607\/revisions\/2609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.atyourbusiness.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}