The Benefits of Adding Extended Hours & An Ortho Urgent Care To Your Medical Practice

Meeting Patient Needs, Maximizing Practice Potential: Extended Hours and Urgent Care in Medical Practices

Written by: Aaron Michael Buch

As a medical practice, offering extended hours and an urgent care option can provide a number of benefits for both your patients and your practice.

One of the primary benefits of offering extended hours is that it allows your patients to receive care at a time that is convenient for them. This can be especially important for patients who have busy schedules or who may not be able to take time off work to receive care during normal business hours. By offering evening or weekend hours, you can make it easier for your patients to receive the care they need, which can lead to better patient satisfaction and loyalty.

In addition to increased convenience for your patients, offering extended hours can also help to improve the efficiency of your practice. By providing more options for patients to receive care, you can help to reduce the number of missed appointments and reduce the amount of time patients spend waiting for care. This can help to improve the overall flow of your practice and allow you to see more patients in a given day.

An urgent care can also be a valuable addition to your practice, as it can help to provide patients with timely care for acute injuries and conditions. By offering this service, you can help to reduce the burden on emergency departments and provide your patients with a more convenient and cost-effective alternative for urgent care. In addition, an urgent care option can help to attract new patients to your practice, as it allows you to provide a wider range of services to your community.

Overall, adding extended hours and an urgent care to an existing medical practice can provide numerous benefits for both your patients and your practice. By offering these services, you can improve the convenience and accessibility of your care, as well as increase the efficiency and effectiveness of your practice.

But is it all sunshine and rainbows? Of course, there are some drawbacks to consider.

One potential issue is the cost of providing these additional services. While the benefit should be outweighed, it’s important to consider and track these changes. Offering extended hours or urgent care service will likely require hiring additional staff or paying overtime to existing staff, which can increase the overall operating costs of the practice. It may also require purchasing additional equipment or supplies, which can further increase costs. Practices will need to carefully consider the potential costs and benefits of adding these services to ensure that they are feasible and financially viable.

Another potential issue is the impact on existing staff and resources. Adding extended hours or an urgent care service may require existing staff to work additional hours or take on additional responsibilities, which can lead to burnout and decreased job satisfaction. Practices will need to ensure that they have sufficient staffing and resources in place to support the additional workload, and may need to consider ways to alleviate any potential strain on staff.

Finally, practices will need to consider the potential impact on their existing patient base. Adding extended hours or an urgent care service may attract new patients to the practice, but it could also lead to a shift in the patient demographics or a change in the patient mix. Practices will need to be prepared to adapt to any potential changes and ensure that they are able to continue providing high-quality care to all of their patients.

Overall, adding extended hours and urgent care options can provide numerous benefits to a medical practice. With that said, it is important for practices to carefully consider the potential drawbacks and issues and ensure that thorough preparation is in pace to manage any potential challenges that may arise.