{"id":19436,"date":"2021-11-23T10:49:08","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T15:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepapergown.zocdoc.com\/?p=19436"},"modified":"2023-03-06T11:44:06","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T16:44:06","slug":"urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/","title":{"rendered":"Urgent Care Is Having a Pandemic Moment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our healthcare system has changed dramatically in the wake of COVID-19. With hospitals overrun with cases and doctors\u2019 offices limiting in-person visits, urgent care centers have helped bridge the gap by addressing patients\u2019 nonemergency medical issues.<\/p>\n

They also have provided COVID-19 testing, crucial to limiting the disease\u2019s spread. Here\u2019s how urgent care\u2019s reputation has changed for the better and how urgent care centers will play an integral role in the event of another health crisis.<\/p>\n

\n

Makeshift testing sites<\/h3>\n

In 2020, urgent care clinics experienced a 58 percent increase<\/a> higher than the previous three year average in visits, with COVID testing and vaccinations accounting for around 70 percent<\/a> of total visits, according to research\u00a0from urgent care software company Experity. Of the 28 million patients who visited these clinics, almost half<\/a> were new visitors. \u201cWe did a tremendous amount of testing,\u201d says Lou Ellen Horwitz, CEO of the\u00a0Urgent Care Association<\/a>. \u201cIt brought in a lot of patients that had never been to an urgent care center before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staffed by medical professionals, urgent care centers were uniquely positioned to administer COVID tests once equipped with the testing kits. By virtue of their convenience \u2014 multiple locations throughout major cities and around the country, online scheduling and even walk-in appointments \u2014 urgent care centers became the sites of choice for many people who needed to know their COVID-19 status.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom an exposure standpoint, testing made a big change in perception,\u201d Horwitz says. \u201cPeople who came in gained a better understanding in terms of the scope of services we offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to raising awareness of urgent care centers, testing provided generally positive urgent care experiences for many. \u201c[After visiting for a COVID test], a lot of people come back for regular urgent care visits,\u201d Horwitz says. \u201cSo much of urgent care is oriented on the patient experience. Testing gave patients the opportunity to experience healthcare in a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Help when you need it<\/h3>\n

COVID taxed our healthcare system, as treating and containing the coronavirus became priorities for medical centers and healthcare providers. Hospitals filled with COVID patients, and primary care physicians\u2019 offices were closed or operating with reduced staff to limit possible transmission.<\/p>\n

Urgent care centers offered nonemergency medical services when hospitals and doctors\u2019 offices couldn\u2019t. \u201cOnce stay-at-home orders lifted, we were the only ones open,\u201d Horwitz says. \u201cWe were seeing triple and quadruple the number of patients than we ever had before.\u201d<\/p>\n

As primary care physicians pushed out appointments for weeks and months, urgent care centers became the best option for patients with illnesses, minor injuries or other medical issues to be seen sooner. \u201cPrimary care has the barrier of making appointments,\u201d Horwitz says. \u201cYou never need to make an appointment with urgent care.\u201d<\/p>\n

A new role emerges<\/h3>\n

In normal circumstances, urgent care centers take pressure off hospitals. A 2018 report from the UCA found that emergency department visits decreased by around 30 percent at hospitals<\/a> with urgent care centers nearby. During COVID-19, urgent care centers provided more nonemergency care than ever, ensuring hospitals had the resources to care for people who had life-threatening emergencies.<\/p>\n

How much urgent care centers contributed to our overall wellness during the pandemic won\u2019t be fully known for some time. Still, it\u2019s clear that they were critical \u2014 and will be again should we ever encounter another health crisis. \u201cWhat would the pandemic have looked like without urgent care?\u201d Horwitz says. \u201cWhere is the testing? Where is the healthcare? But we don\u2019t get as much media coverage [as hospitals], because urgent care is not life and death. The role of urgent care centers in helping the country get through the pandemic has been underestimated \u2014 except by the people who have been to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Government agencies are taking notice too. \u201cWe\u2019re relatively small and have been off the radar,\u201d Horwitz says. \u201cAt the beginning of the pandemic, we had a hard time getting PPE and test kits. People at the higher government levels didn\u2019t realize how many urgent care centers there are and how they could use us in an emergency situation like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve spent a lot of time building relationships with divisions of government that manage emergency response and community health,\u201d she adds. \u201cNow we\u2019re on the government\u2019s and regulatory bodies\u2019 radars. Urgent care will be included in those emergency care conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pandemic changed how patients and providers address medical issues, with urgent care centers rising in prominence as a part of the healthcare system. Though no one wants to anticipate another pandemic, COVID-19 has demonstrated how critical a role urgent care centers play.<\/p>\n

\n

Ready to book a doctor’s appointment? Visit Zocdoc.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Looking at urgent care centers’ new role within our health care system. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":19444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[229],"tags":[103,25,93,106,202],"class_list":["post-19436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthcare-trends","tag-prep","tag-emergency-care","tag-public-health","tag-treatment","tag-urgent-care","reviewer-dr-nassim-assefi"],"yoast_head":"\nUrgent Care Is Having a Pandemic Moment - Healthcare Trends<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Looking at urgent care centers' new role within our health care system.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Urgent Care Is Having a Pandemic Moment - Healthcare Trends\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Looking at urgent care centers' new role within our health care system.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paper Gown\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-23T15:49:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-06T16:44:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/zocdoc.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/kwhipple_UrgentCarecovid_finalc.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"420\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matt Schneiderman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matt Schneiderman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Matt Schneiderman\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e3d61a84901346618dfdb4ecc49d94d8\"},\"headline\":\"Urgent Care Is Having a Pandemic Moment\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-23T15:49:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-06T16:44:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/\"},\"wordCount\":780,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/thepapergown.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/kwhipple_UrgentCarecovid_finalc.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Appointment Prep\",\"Emergency Care\",\"Public Health\",\"Treatment\",\"Urgent Care\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Healthcare Trends\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/\",\"name\":\"Urgent Care Is Having a Pandemic Moment - Healthcare Trends\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/thepapergown.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/kwhipple_UrgentCarecovid_finalc.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-23T15:49:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-06T16:44:06+00:00\",\"description\":\"Looking at urgent care centers' new role within our health care system.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thepapergown.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/kwhipple_UrgentCarecovid_finalc.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/thepapergown.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/kwhipple_UrgentCarecovid_finalc.jpg\",\"width\":768,\"height\":420},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Healthcare Trends\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/category\/healthcare-trends\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Urgent Care Is Having a Pandemic Moment\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paper Gown\",\"description\":\"Stories for and about patients\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Zocdoc\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thepapergown.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ZD-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/thepapergown.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ZD-logo.png\",\"width\":2059,\"height\":1049,\"caption\":\"Zocdoc\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e3d61a84901346618dfdb4ecc49d94d8\",\"name\":\"Matt Schneiderman\",\"description\":\"Matt is a freelance writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/author\/matt-schneiderman\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Urgent Care Is Having a Pandemic Moment - Healthcare Trends","description":"Looking at urgent care centers' new role within our health care system.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Urgent Care Is Having a Pandemic Moment - Healthcare Trends","og_description":"Looking at urgent care centers' new role within our health care system.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/","og_site_name":"The Paper Gown","article_published_time":"2021-11-23T15:49:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-03-06T16:44:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":420,"url":"https:\/\/zocdoc.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/kwhipple_UrgentCarecovid_finalc.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Matt Schneiderman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Matt Schneiderman","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/"},"author":{"name":"Matt Schneiderman","@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e3d61a84901346618dfdb4ecc49d94d8"},"headline":"Urgent Care Is Having a Pandemic Moment","datePublished":"2021-11-23T15:49:08+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-06T16:44:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/"},"wordCount":780,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thepapergown.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/kwhipple_UrgentCarecovid_finalc.jpg","keywords":["Appointment Prep","Emergency Care","Public Health","Treatment","Urgent Care"],"articleSection":["Healthcare Trends"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/","url":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/","name":"Urgent Care Is Having a Pandemic Moment - Healthcare Trends","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/thepapergown.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/kwhipple_UrgentCarecovid_finalc.jpg","datePublished":"2021-11-23T15:49:08+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-06T16:44:06+00:00","description":"Looking at urgent care centers' new role within our health care system.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/thepapergown.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/kwhipple_UrgentCarecovid_finalc.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thepapergown.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/kwhipple_UrgentCarecovid_finalc.jpg","width":768,"height":420},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/healthcare-trends\/urgent-care-is-having-a-pandemic-moment\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Healthcare Trends","item":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/category\/healthcare-trends\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Urgent Care Is Having a Pandemic Moment"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/","name":"The Paper Gown","description":"Stories for and about patients","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Zocdoc","url":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/thepapergown.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ZD-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thepapergown.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ZD-logo.png","width":2059,"height":1049,"caption":"Zocdoc"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e3d61a84901346618dfdb4ecc49d94d8","name":"Matt Schneiderman","description":"Matt is a freelance writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area.","url":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/author\/matt-schneiderman\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zocdoc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}