WEDNESDAY, September 19, 2012 — When Emily Auerswald and her children need care for minor illnesses or injuries, they head to a shopping center near Annapolis that has a Starbucks, a Five Guys hamburger joint and an urgent care center.
Such centers treat the most common injuries and illnesses -- including colds, ear infections, cuts and back pain -- in addition to taking X-rays and performing simple blood, urine and drug tests.
Doctors Express in Edgewater is open nights and weekends, and accepts walk-ins without an appointment.
Since 2008, the number of facilities has increased from 8,000 to 9,300. That includes about 400 in the District, Maryland and Virginia -- and that's not counting smaller and more limited walk-in clinics in pharmacies …show more content…
Similarly, a series of seemingly minor illnesses might indicate a larger, less obvious problem.
"Family doctors take a more complete view of a person," said Glen Stream, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians.
Next Gold Rush?
Rick Morani, owner of the clinic near Annapolis, said he bought the Doctors Express franchise -- one of seven in the Washington-Baltimore area and 54 nationwide -- because he expects the growth curve to look "like a hockey stick."
But consumers seeking to avoid long waits in emergencies rooms and grateful for more convenient evening and weekend hours are driving a steady growth in urgent care centers.
Growth is expected to increase even faster in 2014, when the Affordable Care Act starts to bring health-care coverage to as many as 30 million Americans, many of whom do not have regular doctors, said Charland.
Many urgent care centers are stand-alone doctor's offices, sometimes called "doc-in-a-box" locations. But much of the recent growth has come from chains, said Tom Charland, chief executive of Merchant Medicine, a Minnesota consulting firm that tracks the