Urgent Care Facilities Case Study

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Urgent Care Facilities

The type of facility chosen is the Urgent Care facility, a relatively new but rapidly growing aspect of the U.S. Health care system. Research shows that Urgent Care provides relatively inexpensive ambulatory care for certain types of medical issues. The savings inherent in using Urgent Care, plus its increasing ability to treat patients of all types and ages have contributed to its increasingly widespread use.

The types of services that are provided at this facility, including a description of both inpatient and outpatient services

Urgent Care facilities are relatively young in the U.S. health care industry, first appearing approximately 40 years ago in response to the need for less expensive "urgent" care that does not rise to the level of "emergency" and/or "inpatient care." Urgent Care facilities do not provide inpatient care; rather, they provide outpatient care of "urgent medical issues." The Palo Alto Medical Foundation, a network of Urgent Care facilities, carefully distinguishes between an "emergency," which can threaten life or cause impairment, and an "urgent medical issue," which requires care within 24 hours, such an accident or fall, sprains, fractures, back problems, breathing difficulties, abdominal pain, cuts that require stitches, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, sore throat, coughs, asthma that is not severe (Palo Alto Medical Foundation, 2012).

According to the American Academy of Urgent Care Medicine, Urgent care does not replace a primary care physician or hospital emergency room; rather, urgent care is a convenient alternative that many managed health care payers are encouraging patients to use due to the estimated 50-70% savings in treatment (Urgent Care News, 2011).

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The AAUCM also points to the fact that wait times in Urgent Care facilities tend to be shorter than the hours-long wait in a hospital emergency room (American Academy of Urgent Care Medicine, 2012). In fact, two urgent care facilities in San Bernardino, CA that received awards from the AAUCM reports, "On average, patients see a health care professional within 4.4 minutes of walking into the door of either site" (Steinberg, 2012).

The types of patients that receive care at this facility.

According to the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, their networked Urgent Care facilities treat patient of all ages and types, so long as the medical issue is an "urgent medical issue" (Palo Alto Medical Foundation, 2012).

Provide a minimum of two examples of how this facility has responded to changing trends in healthcare.

The Palo Alto Medical Foundation is responding to the changing trends in health care in at least two ways. First, many patients of all ages and types are being guided toward Urgent Care by managed….....

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