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Urgent Care Centers and the Demand for Non-Emergent Emergency Department Visits

Author

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  • Lindsay Allen
  • Janet R. Cummings
  • Jason Hockenberry

Abstract

Urgent care centers (UCCs) are a cost-efficient substitute to the emergency department (ED) for non-emergent conditions, but no study has identified their impact on ED demand. We address this gap using a novel strategy that exploits daily UCC operating times in a differencing framework. After UCCs close each day, local non-emergent ED visits increase by 1.43 percent (over the adjusted mean rate of 70.58 percent) in areas with multiple UCCs. This effect occurs only among the privately insured population, the target customers of UCCs. Our results suggest that UCCs are successfully substituting for EDs in the treatment of non-emergent conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • Lindsay Allen & Janet R. Cummings & Jason Hockenberry, 2019. "Urgent Care Centers and the Demand for Non-Emergent Emergency Department Visits," NBER Working Papers 25428, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25428
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Alexander, Diane & Currie, Janet & Schnell, Molly, 2019. "Check up before you check out: Retail clinics and emergency room use," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
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    Cited by:

    1. Currie, Janet & Karpova, Anastasia & Zeltzer, Dan, 2023. "Do urgent care centers reduce Medicare spending?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    2. Rosella Levaggi & Marcello Montefiori & Luca Persico, 2020. "Speeding up the clinical pathways by accessing emergency departments," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(1), pages 37-44, February.
    3. Bhalotra, Sonia R. & Nunes, Letícia & Rocha, Rudi, 2020. "Urgent Care Centers, Hospital Performance and Population Health," IZA Discussion Papers 13992, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Shooshan Danagoulian & Daniel Grossman & David Slusky, 2022. "Health Care Following Environmental Disasters: Evidence from Flint," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(4), pages 1060-1089, September.
    5. Zeltzer, Dan & Einav, Liran & Chasid, Avichai & Balicer, Ran D., 2021. "Supply-side variation in the use of emergency departments," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    6. Kirstin Woody Scott & Angela Liu & Carina Chen & Alexander S Kaldjian & Amber K Sabbatini & Herbert C Duber & Joseph L Dieleman, 2021. "Healthcare spending in U.S. emergency departments by health condition, 2006–2016," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(10), pages 1-14, October.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets

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