Will we see you at NERUCA next week?

With health care reform creating more covered beneficiaries (many of whom do not have a primary care physician), a shortage of physicians and advance practice providers, and an emerging financial incentive to keep patients out of the ER, urgent care is fast becoming a key component in the health care delivery system. What makes the sector unique is the breadth of acquisition strategies – and buyers – in play. While there are many private equity sponsors pursuing traditional roll-up strategies, we also are seeing hospitals, physician groups, and insurers get in the action – not just for the revenues urgent care can generate, but also for the role it can play as an entry-point into the system that can be leveraged to direct patients to the most effective venues of care.