Urgent Care Travel Time
How Far Are Patients Traveling To Visit An Urgent Care?

When it comes to Urgent Care, primary care and routine care, accessibility in terms of travel time and distance is important for patients. If travel-time is too far, it may deter patients from seeking care in a particular facility. So what exactly is too far?

According to a study done by The Health Care Research Group, published by Wei Yen, adults on average are willing to drive up to 20.4 miles, with a travel time of 28.4 minutes, for routine care. For urgent care clinics, they are willing to drive up to 22 miles, with a travel time of 30 minutes. So what does this mean for you?

In general, a health care provider’s patients will be based within a 20-30 mile radius of their facility. Yet this general rule isn’t applicable across all locations. Densely populated areas will have longer driving times with less distance.

This number does vary when we analyze distinct groups of adults. For instance, when it comes to adults with children, for routine care visits, they are willing to only travel 26.3 minutes. Adults with poor health that live in non-urban areas are willing to spend up to 32.1 minutes traveling for routine care visits.

When it comes to urgent care visits, uninsured adults, non-urban residents, and men are reported to be willing to spend up to 34.8 minutes traveling. In contrast, elderly groups will compromise for less time traveling than average adults, approximately 26.4 minutes.

Although these comparisons may seem minuscule, the difference between 26-34 minutes can be the mileage that determines whether a patient goes to your facility or another one more conveniently nearby. It’s important to tailor to patients in your surrounding local neighborhoods.

SOURCE:

https://ofm.wa.gov/sites/default/files/public/legacy/researchbriefs/2013/brief070.pdf