The Key Economic Factors That Have Led to the Rise in the Number of Urgent Care Facilities and Primary Care Practices

There has been a rapid increase in the number of urgent care facilities and primary care practices for the last two-three decades due to various factors, political, social and economic. One of the key economic factors that have led to the rise in the number of urgent care facilities and primary care practices is the increase in demand for these services from the customers. Compared to the previous three decades, the population has been growing meaning that more people will demand medical care and treatment. As a result of this demand, private investors have been taking advantage to put their investments into healthcare services with the aim of attracting this population and ripping good profits. There has also been an increase in the competition in the healthcare sector with private investors coming in to compete the government in the provision of quality care and this has led to many primary care clinics being set up to provide care for a large number of patients who are all over seeking treatment ( Lathrop & Hodnicki, 2014 ). 

Political factors that have led to the rising number of primary care and urgent care facilities is the government's intention to provide universal health care by making health care facilities accessible to all Americans. The federal government as well as state governments has been in the higher end in the past decades in the construction of healthcare facilities and employing more healthcare professionals to ensure that everyone can access health care services. Over 8000 urgent and immediate care centers have been opened across the country lately, with the growth rate estimated to be at 10% annually. While some of these facilities are run by the nonprofit health systems such as Aurora Healthcare, private investors have also been increasingly setting up many healthcare facilities as a business due to the pressure from the policymakers, employers, and insurers on hospitals to treat patients at reduced costs. The passage of the security amendments which led to the creation of Medicaid and Medicare also facilitated the proliferation of hospitals. Following the introduction of Medicaid and Medicare programs, hospitals had substantial capital gain as they could upgrade their technology and hospital equipment ( Allen et al., 2013, p. 51 ). The payment from the Medicare was generous, and hospitals benefited from it. This led to more healthcare facilities being opened up. These factors plus the increasing and emergence of new diseases and health conditions and the need to provide quality care have seen many healthcare facilities being opened up to help improve the quality of the care while they minimize costs. 

The comprehensive mission statement of the clinic is to provide quality care and to improve the health and well-being of those we serve by offering a comprehensive and quality primary care while we also promote preventive services in the community. The mission statement facilitates the provision of quality care because, in support of the mission statement, the clinic is determined to achieve various quality factors. The clinic strives to improve the quality of the care and services we deliver. This is because we are guided by our mission statement, and it is what we rely upon to guide our daily operations. The clinic is also committed to continuously foster highly qualified and responsive staff members that will support the mission of the clinic. It also strives to a comfortable and safe environment for both the patients and the employees as this will facilitate the achievement of the mission of the clinic as stated in the mission statement. In support to the mission statement and to improve quality, the clinic is committed to expanding the facilities and services so that they respond to the community needs. We are also committed to keeping abreast of the advances in patient care as well as in the administrative functions. The mission statement can, therefore, lead to the improvement in the quality of the services offered in the clinic because all the activities that the clinic undertakes must support the mission statement to ensure that quality is achieved. 

Based on the mission statement, the clinic is also determined to remain innovative and support the community preventive measures at all times. It puts much effort to enhance the quality of life in the community and the people it serves. This is achieved through collaboration and feedback while also making continuous improvements in the quality of the services we offer. The clinic values the worth and dignity of all individuals and the services are based on integrity and trust between our patients and the staff. 

Because the central city does not have any primary care and some patients go to the emergency departments for routine illnesses, the clinic can grow its business by first getting ad reaching out to more patients especially those who require primary care and routine diseases that are not provided by the competitors in the city. Reaching out to a large number of patients is the first step for a health care facility to grow its revenue and become stable in business. Reaching out to a large number of patients can be done through making the community members understand and be aware of the services offered at the facility and assure them of the quality and fairly reduced costs than the competitors. The clinic can also engage patients and community members so that it can build its reputation. This can be done through the provision of the community prevention education program that will enable the members of the community to acknowledge the existence of the clinic and thus attract more patients. Once the facility has started getting more patients, it should be responsive to the changing population and demography by adding more staff in different specialties while also focusing on the provision of diversified services. The clinic can provide both acute care services while also offering chronic care so that patients who fall in both categories are attracted to the facility. Factor that can be considered while determining what services to provide in-house which ones to affiliate other institutions is the cost. Services which require the use of expensive equipment will need the clinic to affiliate with other institutions because as a new facility, it may not be in a position to have enough resources to buy certain expensive equipment required for certain services. 

The goal of the clinic is to provide quality patient-centered medical care which integrates the patients as an active participant in their health and well-being and to ensure that their health outcome improves. The first performance measure to determine if the clinic has met its goal can be on the post-treatment metrics. This is where the data on the readmission rates for specific diseases, clinical outcome rates, and clinical errors rates. These can determine if the clinic is actually providing quality services to the patients. For example, if the readmission rate for a disease such as pneumonia is high, it can be concluded that the clinic is not meeting its goal. This is because the goal is to improve the health outcome of the patients and when there are more readmission rates, it means the goal is not being met. The second performance measure is the number of new patients and patients’ satisfaction rate. When a large number of new patients are being received, and most patients are satisfied with the services they receive, it means that the clinic is meeting its goal of providing quality patient-centered medical care. More new customers’ means the happy patients refer the more people to the clinic ( Anderson et al., 2014, p. 2322 ). Low satisfaction will, however, mean that the goal is not being met. The third performance measure that can be used to determine if the clinic has achieved its goal is the length of time patients have to wait before they are attended to. When the patients have to wait for long, it means the goal is not being met. However, short waiting time, on the other hand, means that the goal has been reached. 

The opportunity available for the clinic to utilize is the diversification of the service delivery to cover a wide range of services so that the business can attract more patients. Also, the clinic can utilize modern medical technology by introducing devices such as electronic records that can enable the facility to monitor the progress of the patients and also interact with them concerning their health progress. Applying technology in medical practice can help improve efficiency and reduce costs in the long run. Another opportunity that exists in place is to offer services for the patients at a relatively reduced cost while targeting more patients. This is because some of the residents of the community are low-income individuals who are struggling and by making care costs affordable to them, they will be incorporated into the care system, and this will increase the number of patients for the facility. While reduced costs for services may seem pressing at the start, it can be of a great benefit to the business in the long run when the clinic has attracted a large number of patients. 

Reference List 

Lathrop, B., & Hodnicki, D. (2014). The Affordable Care Act: Primary care and the doctor of nursing practice nurse.  Online journal of issues in nursing ,  19 (2). 

Allen, L. A., Smoyer Tomic, K. E., Wilson, K. L., Smith, D. M., & Agodoa, I. (2013). The inpatient experience and predictors of length of stay for patients hospitalized with systolic heart failure: comparison by commercial, Medicaid, and Medicare payer type.  Journal of medical economics ,  16 (1), 43-54. 

Anderson, J. L., Heidenreich, P. A., Barnett, P. G., Creager, M. A., Fonarow, G. C., Gibbons, R. J., ... & Masoudi, F. A. (2014). ACC/AHA statement on cost/value methodology in clinical practice guidelines and performance measures: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Performance Measures and Task Force on Practice Guidelines.  Journal of the American College of Cardiology ,  63 (21), 2304-2322.