Emergency departments (ED) at U.S. hospitals continue to be overwhelmed by visits from patients who could be treated elsewhere. The reliance on hospital EDs is contributing to the rising cost of healthcare and slows the response time for patients who truly need emergency service. At the same time, urgent 
care centers are available to serve consumers who have a health concern during times when their traditional doctor’s office may not be open. Currently, about 8,00 urgent care centers operate in the U.S. while the number of hospital EDs is about 4,600. Both kinds of facilities will play a role in healthcare delivery services as the industry evolves under the new federal programs.
For now, urgent care centers can take advantage of statistics recently released by the CDC which shows that they could treat consumers that are going to the ED for non-emergency needs. The most recent data available indicates that about 117 million ED visits happen annually but over half of the visits are not considered an emergency.
Visit rates per 10,000 persons to EDs were distributed by age range as follows:
- Under age 5: 121
- Between 5 and 64 years old: 59
- Over age 65: 25
For female patients under age 15, the top specified reasons for visits included upper respiratory infections, ear infections, unspecified viral infections and skin contusions. For young male patients, the top visit reasons included upper respiratory infections, ear infections, open head wounds, and skin contusions.And about 65% of ED visits take place between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m.
Urgent care centers would do well to aggressively promote their services to consumers with young children. By marketing themselves as conveniently located and offering extended service hours, local urgent care centers could increase their patient load. An ad campaign that promises quick response to specific illnesses as well as effective treatment for injuries can also generate big results.
Contact the marketing managers at the urgent care centers in your region to review the latest statistics published by the CDC and discuss ways to build an exciting new ad campaign.
[Sources: Urgent Care Benchmarking & Statistics. Ucaoa.org. Web. 26 Aug. 2010; Emergency Department Summary. National Health Statistics Reports. 6 Aug. 2010. Web. 26 Aug. 2010]
Thursday, Sep 2, 2010
Kathy Crosett