FastMed opens first Dallas-area clinic as demand for urgent care ramps up
Company has become the second-largest urgent care provider in the country with facilities across Arizona, North Carolina and Texas.
FastMed Urgent Care has opened its first Dallas-area facility, its 114th overall, the system announced Wednesday. The Dallas location offers care for minor medical needs like colds and viruses, to stitches and minor surgeries. In addition to accepting most insurance plans, Medicare, and Medicaid, the clinic will also offer the FastMed Savings Plan, a program designed to make healthcare more manageable by offering self-pay patients discounted care and services.
FastMed has become the second-largest urgent care provider in the country with facilities across Arizona, North Carolina and Texas, according to the company, prospering thanks in large part to growing demand for fast, convenient healthcare services with reduced wait times and no appointment. They plan to open 10 more urgent care clinics this year, FastMed said.
[Also: CHI Franciscan Health, CityMD open urgent care center in Seattle]
According to the American Academy of Urgent Care Medicine, the growth and development of urgent care medicine is driven by frustration over long waits in the emergency room for non-emergency care and diminished availability for primary care appointments. This often means patients wait for weeks to see their primary care physician, AAUCM said.
The group said there are currently about 9,300 walk-in, stand-alone urgent care centers in the United States, with roughly 50 to 100 new clinics opening each year. Emergency room visits now top 110 million annually. And from 1994 to 2004, the number of hospitals and emergency rooms decreased by 9 percent while emergency room visits increased by more than one million visits a year.
Twitter: @BethJSanborn
