48 Cases in Healthcare Financeicall typy much less than for emergency department visits. There are cur rently about 9,000 of these centers around the country, including about 1,500 that are hospital affiliated. The Urgent Care Association of America has established criteria for designation as a Certified Urgent Care Center. .C.urr.ently, about half of the centers in the United States have this certification• Accord-ing to iviedLibrary.org, “these criteria define scope of .se.rvice, hours of operation, and staffing requirements. A qualifying facility must accept walk-in patients of all ages during all hours of operation. It should treat a ‘broad-spectrum’ of illnesses and injuries, and have the ability to perform minor procedures. An urgent care center must also have on-site diagnostic services, including phlebotomy and x-ray.” (For more information on urgent care centers, see www.ucaoa.org.) In addition to certification, urgent care centers can obtain accreditation through The Joint Commission as part of its ambulatory healthcare accredita-tion program. (For more information, see www.jointcommission.org.) Brandon Harley, TMH’s chief executive officer, is concerned about the urgent care center’s overall financial soundness. About ten years ago, several area hospitals jumped onto the urgent care center bandwagon, and within a short time, there were 15 such centers scattered around the city. Now, only 11 are left, and none of them appears to be a big moneymaker. Brandon wonders if TMH should continue to operate its center or close it down. The center is currentWaanaling a patient load of 45 visits per dad, but it Jjas,..the_physicaL.capacity-to_handle many more7_upto_85 visits a day. Brandon’s decision is complicated -by-the -fact that Amanda Daniels, TMH’s marketing director, has been pushing to embark on a new marketing program for the clinic. She believes that an expanded marketing effort aimed at local businesses would bring in the number of new patients needed to make the clinic a financial winner. Brandon has asked Nicole Williams, TMH’s chief financial offi-cer, to look into the whole matter of the urgent care center. In their meeting, Brandon stated that he visualizes three potential outcomes for the center: (1) it could be closed; (2) it could continue to oper-ate as is—that is, without er—dpan ing its marketing program; or (3) it could continue to operate, accompanied by the expanded mail(eting erro-r1.-As a starting point-fortlirffoly§rNiale-Follectealliem-Ost recent historical financial and operating data for the center, which are summarized in Exhibit 6.1. In assessing the historical data, she noted that one competing center had recently (December 2013) closed its
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