Articles

By Alan Ayers, President, Urgent Care Consultants When launching or scaling your urgent care business, creating an optimized marketing budget is one of the hardest things to get right. There’s a reason operators often ask about benchmarks. A starting point makes it easier to dial in your budget, ensuring you have enough cash to meet […]

By Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc, President, Urgent Care Consultants For urgent care operators, few things are as frustrating and commonplace as the end-of-day dilemma. You advertise that your center is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., but in reality, that’s not quite the case. Staff arrives at 8:00 a.m. and it takes 15-20 minutes

By Alan Ayers, President, Urgent Care Consultants Gone are the days when a street-facing sign and a few local mailers were enough to keep patients walking through the doors of your urgent care clinic. If you want to sustain momentum in 2026, you need a solid marketing strategy that accounts for how patients actually make

By Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc, President, Urgent Care Consultants Why point-of-care STI testing belongs in urgent care Patients don’t come to urgent care to wait. Modern point-of-care (POC) nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) for chlamydia and gonorrhea—some with trichomonas or Mycoplasma genitalium options—deliver lab-quality results before discharge. That enables evidence-based treatment and partner management immediately,

Alan Ayers, MBA, MAcc, President, Urgent Care Consultants Unlocking New Revenue from Ancillary Services As an urgent care operator, maximizing utilization of your assets is key to success. Your on-site X-ray suite is a significant investment, but what if you could leverage it beyond your own patient base to serve neighboring practices, like a nearby

By Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc, President, Urgent Care Consultants It’s tempting to assume artificial intelligence makes a consultant optional. It doesn’t. Access to information isn’t the same as judgment. After more than 20 years developing, operating, and growing urgent care centers, completing graduate-level education in AI—and helping scale the Urgent Care Association—I can say

By Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc — President, Urgent Care Consultants When patients search for care, they rarely start by asking friends or driving until they see a street-facing sign for urgent care. Today, they open Google. “Near me” searches have increased by 200% over the past two years according to Google’s Consumer Insights. Capturing

Few decisions in the urgent care startup process matter more than where you put your clinic. The right location sets you up for strong visit volumes and brand visibility from day one. The wrong one can mean sluggish growth and expensive do-overs. While most business owners know that location is important, few understand just how

Are rising wages and flat post-COVID visit volumes squeezing your urgent care’s profitability? You’re not alone. While you can’t always control payer contracts, you absolutely can control your marketing. In a competitive landscape, the key to sustainable growth is moving from a reactive to a proactive marketing strategy that builds “top of mind awareness” within

One of the most important decisions when starting an urgent care business is whether to own or rent your physical space. At first glance, owning the building might sound like a smart investment. After all, real estate can be a wealth-building tool on its own, and you won’t be paying “rent” to a landlord each

Opening an urgent care center is an exciting business opportunity with high-earning potential for savvy operators. Like any serious investment, success depends on more than just a good location or strong patient demand. You also need a sound financial plan from day zero. If you’re considering whether to open an urgent care, it’s crucial to