In Part 1 of this article, we posed the question: Are we entering a new era of ambulatory care where a whole set of structural changes are driven by the combination of new technologies, demographic changes and the many influences of Covid-19? The answer is an unquestionable yes. What is not so clear is the extent of those structural changes....

Running an urgent care platform was already getting complicated before the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic. By this past March it looked as if the end of the urgent care world was upon us. Patient visits came to a halt for six weeks or more. Those who jumped on the testing bandwagon managed to kick back into gear. But this may be a short-lived salve for something more dramatic coming down the road....

We have many health system clients who ask: “If we were to start from scratch, what should our urgent care model look like?” The answer is to look not at the current state of urgent care, no matter how slick, consumer-friendly or retail-oriented it may appear. Unfortunately, many health systems are caught up in the look and feel of urgent care, many of them hiring executives from places like Neiman Marcus or Amazon. There is also the “rear guard” focus on justifying purchased medical group assets, referring patients downstream to places that may not necessarily be expeditious or economical, and spending large sums on outdated, system-level patient experience programs....