Urgent Care: Confusions Patients Have That Can Affect Your Business

Urgent Care Centers are in practically every city of every state. Yet, some people go their whole lives without ever stepping inside one when it might have saved them time, money, and would have been more convenient than visiting their primary care physician. So what’s the reason so many people avoid Urgent Cares? We’ve found that it’s because they don’t know what’s inside!

This article helps clear up some of the more common misconceptions surrounding these handy healthcare facilities.

What “Is” Urgent Care?

If you’re in the industry you know the answer, but most people that haven’t set foot in a UC don’t! Urgent Care Clinics are medical offices that offer examinations and treatments for colds, ailments, and minor injuries that need urgent attention. These walk-in facilities offer a long list of services that a lot of people think are only available from family doctors or primary care physicians. Urgent Cares often have night and weekend hours for patients to take advantage of when their usual doctors are either unavailable, or when they need immediate care and can’t wait for an appointment. Appointments aren’t necessary for urgent clinics. Nor do people have to be existing patients in order to be qualified for treatment.

People Don’t Know what Urgent Care Centers Provide

Urgent cares offer a list of services including, but not limited to, physicals, check-ups, flu shots, bug bites, drug testing, x-ray services, seasonal care, and family care. Without the need to schedule an appointment, people find it far more convenient to visit urgent cares instead.

People Think Urgent Cares Have Shoddy Doctors

Perhaps one of the more important points to address first, is that the physicians employed at urgent care facilities are board-certified doctors who know what they’re doing. They aren’t doctors who wandered in off the streets or med students who settled for an urgent care because he or she couldn’t make it at a hospital – they’re experts who provide communities with quick and affordable healthcare.

People Think Urgent Care = Emergency Room

The walk-in convenience of urgent cares doesn’t mean these clinics are emergency rooms. They’re not. In the event of a dire emergency there are worse places to be than an urgent care surrounded by medical staff. But this isn’t, and shouldn’t, be the go to place for emergency medical treatment. Instances where that level of serious treatment is called for falls under 911 territory, and not something you go to an urgent care for.

People Think Urgent Cares Are “Expensive”

First time patients can think it’s expensive, when it’s not. Urgent care clinics provide affordable healthcare to patients, no appointment necessary, without any kind of “short notice” fee. The business model for these clinics cater to people who want quick and effective treatment without paying the arm and leg they went in there to fix. People who can’t afford a primary health physician, or who don’t visit a doctor very often, find urgent cares to be a better fit for them.

Getting Patients to Come Back

First-time patients usually visit urgent cares with one thing in mind, and that’s whatever brought them there in the first place. People who are unfamiliar with urgent care clinics tend to be out of the loop when it comes to services they can take advantage of while there – so how do you inform them?

That’s where Urgent Care TV comes into focus. Urgent Care TV from It’s Relevant TV is a marketing tool that, rather than focusing on patient acquisition, focuses more on patient retention. It gets people to come back more. It educates them on all the reasons to come back.

It’s Relevant is a living, breathing TV network with a library of over half a million videos. The interesting, and family friendly content improves patient experience and exposes them to the things you want them to see. It’s Relevant TV is more than an advertising platform, it’s a tool to help connect with visitors in ways that can’t be done with cable or a looping video display.

In the end, you can expect 5 important things from UCTV from It’s Relevant:

1. Improved patient experience
They should have a better time while they are there.

2. Patient retention
If they have a better experience they will be more willing to come back again.

3. A better medical marketing strategy
Utilizing in-clinic marketing will provide your business with a more well-rounded marketing approach.

4. Improved social media effectiveness
Patients will gain an added desire to follow you by seeing the great posts you make. You are also able to target actual patients who are more likely to act upon your messaging.

5. Positive reviews
A good experience leads to a good review. Prospective patients will look at the opinions of others before visiting your center.