Providers seek to meet patients where they already are.
As MedExpress Urgent Care locations faced closure in 2024, health systems across the landscape began to scoop them up.
The Morgantown, W.Va.-based clinics have been part of UnitedHealth Group’s Optum since 2015 when they were purchased for $1.5 billion. But nurses were laid off at nearly 150 locations this past August as part of larger layoffs at Optum and health systems like Pittsburgh-based UPMC jumped at the opportunity to take over some MedExpress Urgent Care centers in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia beginning this spring.
UPMC formed a joint venture with GoHealth Urgent Care to become UPMC-GoHealth Urgent Care to run the centers. During the transition, MedExpress, UPMC Urgent Care and UPMC Express Care will operate under their current names.
The urgent care provider and operator GoHealth has partnerships with 11 health systems and manages over 250 urgent care centers in 14 states, including one with ChristianaCare to operate five new urgent care clinics in Delaware previously managed by MedExpress.
GoHealth currently has partnerships with ChristianaCare, Hartford HealthCare, Henry Ford Health, Inova, Legacy, Memorial Hermann, Mercy, Northwell Health, Novant Health, Nuvance Health and UCSF Health.
Why urgent care?
Why are so many health systems acquiring urgent care clinics and partnering with urgent care operators?
The urgent care industry has seen rapid growth, driven by factors like increasing patient demand for convenient care, the rising costs of healthcare, and the need for services outside of regular office hours. Many urgent care centers also offer extended hours, making them a popular choice for patients seeking quick medical attention.
Some health systems see urgent care acquisitions as a way to expand their footprint in a certain geographical area, while all of them see it as a way to meet their patients where they already are.
For example, in 2024:
- HCA Healthcare purchased 41 Texas urgent care centers from FastMed.
- Baylor Scott & White also had 41 urgent care clinics across Texas join its network through a partnership with NextCare Urgent Care.
- Baptist Health purchased five urgent care centers, which maintained their care teams with expanded access to Baptist Health specialists in Arkansas.
- Memorial Hermann Health System partnered with GoHealth Urgent Care to operate 10 existing urgent care centers in the Houston area.
- Ochsner Health acquired Diamondhead Urgent Care and has two locations to provide urgent care in Mississippi.
As of recent estimates, there are over 10,000 urgent care centers across the country.
Health insurers and hospitals have become focused on keeping people out of the emergency room since those visits are around ten times more expensive than visits to an urgent care center. And, like other health care options, urgent care centers make money by billing insurance companies for the cost of the visit, additional services or the patient pays out of pocket.
Urgent care in the Carolinas
GoHealth’s partnership with Novant Health in North Carolina spans 33 locations.
The two partnered in 2018 and their most recent location opened in December. All Novant Health-GoHealth Urgent Care locations are in the Charlotte metropolitan area, Asheville and the Triad region, providing the communities with a direct link to Novant’s network of high-quality healthcare services.
Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant is now taking that success in urgent care to South Carolina.
In 2024, it acquired a 200-provider urgent care group from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina called UCI Medical Affiliates, which included Doctors Care and Progressive Physical Therapy. Doctors Care is South Carolina’s largest urgent care network and employs 1,100 healthcare professionals.
A Novant spokesperson told Becker’s Healthcare that the acquisition allowed the health system to expand its reach in South Carolina and extend its safety and quality program to these South Carolina clinics. The purchase now makes Novant the largest urgent care provider in the state. It also complements Novant’s three South Carolina hospitals and associated physician clinics, as well as its Ridgeland clinic established in partnership with Ochsner called Ochsner and Novant Health 65 Plus – Okatie.
“Expanding access to high-quality outpatient care is a key part of our strategy to transform healthcare in South Carolina,” said Carl Armato, president and CEO of Novant Health, in a statement. “The addition of our urgent care and physical therapy network enhances our ability to support patients across the state with their unexpected care needs and recovery from injuries.”