Categorization of the Models for Urgent Care Delivery: The Need for Standardization

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Healthcare Management
• Clinical Operations

Background:

• Rising demand for episodic care strains primary care and emergency departments (EDs).
• Urgent care centers (UCCs) bridge primary and emergency care but exhibit significant variability in scope, staffing, and services.
• This variability impacts the types of patient conditions UCCs can appropriately manage.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the lack of research on UCCs' impact on the healthcare system and ED offload.
• To propose a framework for categorizing UCCs based on capabilities to facilitate research.
• To optimize the study of UCC models for acute, unscheduled care and health system efficiency.

Main Methods:

• Development of a 5-tier model for classifying urgent care centers.
• Categorization based on clinical and operational factors: provider qualifications, diagnostic testing, hours of operation, and health system integration.

Main Results:

• The proposed model differentiates UCCs into discrete tiers based on capabilities.
• This framework enables a more nuanced study of UCC effectiveness in managing patient acuity and complexity.
• Potential to identify optimal UCC models for specific healthcare needs and system efficiencies.

Conclusions:

• A standardized, tiered approach is necessary to study UCCs effectively.
• Categorizing UCCs by capability can enhance understanding of their role in acute care delivery.
• This model supports research into improving healthcare system efficiency and reducing ED burden.