Urgent care expansion was a hot topic of conversation among CSOs at the Strategy Catalyst Summit and Spring CSO Forum hosted earlier this year, in part because it touches on so many different strategic priorities for health systems.

Urgent care is a new frontier for expanding access to care—the number one priority identified by CSOs in this year’s THMA priorities survey—and helps fill convenience gaps left by primary care. It’s also a promising avenue for patient acquisition (and associated downstream revenue), especially when clinics are strategically located. Last but not least, it can be a tool for system growth and expansion into new markets: the number of urgent care locations nationwide has roughly doubled over the past decade.