Worcester Business Journal

www.wbjournal.com April 27, 2015 • Worcester Business Journal 11 Providers angle for pieces of growing urgent care market Hudson. The Hudson site is scheduled to open next month, while the Worcester site, which will be ReadyMED's flagship location, is scheduled to open at the end of 2015. Hazarika said Reliant wanted to get a running start in an area of medicine that was expected to be in high demand among today's busy consumers. Urgent care centers typically offer weekend and evening appointments for medical needs that can't wait a day, and for those who are having trouble getting appointments at busy primary-care offices for urgent medical needs. They're also a cheaper and faster alter- native to your typical hospital emer- gency room. "We see patients' preferences chang- ing. Convenience is a big desire from patients' perspective at this point," Hazarika said. In years past, most insurance compa- nies required referrals from primary care doctors for patients to seek treat- ment at urgent care centers. But realiz- ing the cost effectiveness of urgent care treatment — many provide care for a flat fee, even if a patient requires x-rays or lab work, and it's significantly less expensive than an emergency room visit — that referral is, for the most part, no longer a requirement. So says Shaun Ginter, CEO of Quincy-based CareWell Urgent Care, the state's larg- est operator of urgent care centers. "In most of the rest of the United States, referrals are not, and have not ever, been required in urgent care," Ginter said. New player and its partners With the shift toward retail urgent care, Reliant's presence as a leader in Central Massachusetts may soon be challenged. For starters, CareWell will soon arrive in Worcester and plans to link up, in some form, with the region's biggest health care player: UMass Memorial Health Care. The two organizations have not provided full details on the type of partnership they're pursuing, but UMass Memorial CEO Eric Dickson said earlier this month that the system is investing in "multiple" urgent care loca- tions in and around Worcester, and some will open this year. His comments came as CareWell announced plans to enter the Worcester market while part- nering with UMass Memorial. Officials at UMass Memorial declined to be interviewed for this report, though spokesman Anthony Berry, in a statement, reiterated plans to collaborate with CareWell. Asked about a site on Route 20 in Northborough bearing signage with the UMass Memorial and CareWell names, Berry said it's "among the potential" UMass Memorial locations. Ginter, of CareWell, shed some light on CareWell's Central Massachusetts strategy in a recent interview. He said CareWell will open two Worcester-area locations in August, but there's room to grow from there. The company plans to open a half-dozen under the CareWell brand this year, and possibly more in 2016. Ginter did not disclose where they'll be located or how they'll operate in con- junction with UMass Memorial. But he said work- ing with existing providers is key to the CareWell model. "One of CareWell's focuses is collaboration" with local hospitals, Ginter said. CareWell, formed in 2012, has worked very closely with Burlington-based Lahey Health. CareWell acts as Lahey's exclusive urgent care provider in the North Shore area, Ginter said. Lahey proactively refers patients in need of urgent care services to CareWell, which then refers patients back to Lahey for primary and hospital care, when appropriate. This agreement, Ginter said, is conducive to Lahey's population health management strategy, designed to deliver coordinat- ed care to the patients in its territory. "It ensures that the patient doesn't leave the family, so to speak, and that there's continuity of care and commu- nication," Ginter said. To that end, CareWell will have to work collaboratively with other provid- ers in the Worcester area, according to Ginter. He said it's inevitable that Reliant patients, for instance, will sometimes show up at CareWell sites. To provide seamless care, he said the company will need to foster good rela- tionships with all area providers. Benefits of competition? CareWell will be joined by at least two other urgent care newcomers in the near future. Doctor's Express, which has loca- tions across the country, will be coming to Worcester to offer urgent care in partnership with the Central Massachusetts Independent Physicians Associations. That deal was announced in January, and Doctors Express is expected to open a location at 115 Stafford St. in Worcester this spring, and at least one more in the city later this year. And Tenet Health Care, the parent of Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester and MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham and Natick, is planning to open a site in Franklin in September under its MedPost Urgent Care brand. It's also considering opening a Marlborough site, according to Teresa Prego, a spokeswoman for Tenet's Northeast region. Hazarika, of Reliant, said far as he's concerned, the more players, the better. "I truly believe competition is always good for consumers, patients and, ulti- mately, for the sector because it forces us to get better at the services we provide," Hazarika said. Q >> Continued from Page 1 CEO Eric Dickson said UMass Memorial will invest in several locations in and around Worcester. 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