FSEDs and Urgent Care Clinics- Can They Work Together?

In the 1970s, an idea was developed to help increase resources for emergency medical care to those that lived in the rural parts of the United States. It would be a building dedicated solely to treating patients with time-sensitive injuries and ailments, moving them through issue assessment to treatment as swiftly as possible- these would become known as freestanding emergency departments (FSED). In the same decade, hospitals began establishing their own new branch of medical care that served a similar purpose, now known as urgent care. The key difference between an FSED and UC is that FSEDs did not need to be affiliated with a hospital. They could be owned by a single physician, a group of physicians, investors, or any combination of interested people, with a wide variety of backgrounds. Since these freestanding emergency departments could essentially be started and run as a business, and since they were not owned by hospitals, they did not need to cut through nearly as much bureaucratic red tape as a standard hospital would need to in order to get built. Due to this ease, the growth of FSEDs has sharply risen. As of 2015, there were a reported 400 freestanding EDs in 32 states.

However, not everyone has seen this expansion in a positive light. A report from the JUCM breaks down in detail the differences in FSEDs and hospital owned facilities for emergency/urgent care. The majority of the pros and cons point towards issues of cost, cost transparency, and cost-benefits for the would-be patient of either of these facilities. For instance, while a visit to an FSED by a patient may be more expensive than a visit to an urgent care facility, roughly at a ratio of 2:1, FSEDs are generally open 24/7, while urgent care facilities are only open about 10-12 hours a day. 

It is of course up to a physician in emergency or urgent care to decide what setting they wish to operate within. At Carehub® Coworking, we believe that a physician should have the flexibility to choose, which is why we intend on instituting both UC facilities and FSEDs as we grow and develop Carehub Integrated Outpatient Healthcare Facilities. We want to let doctors and specialists utilize our space in a way that best meets their professional needs.

We offer customizable medical office space to fit the needs of each individual doctor, and we promise to integrate that same flexibility into every new step we take. At Carehub® Coworking, we are committed to providing physicians with medical office space at a 70% to 85% discount compared to the cost of full-time space, with no long-term contracts, and no upfront out-of-pocket capital costs.  To learn more about how Carehub® can help your practice, give us a call at (512) 543-CARE Ext. 8 or email lee@carehubcoworking.com.

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