First Ever National Urgent Care Franchise Expands Nationwide

TIMONIUM, Md., Jan. 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- With a unique opportunity for people without a medical background to own an urgent care center, Doctors Express, the first ever national urgent care franchise, is rapidly expanding throughout the country. The company has awarded development rights for 145 urgent care centers across 25 states with 62 centers currently open nationwide.

Company leaders say the concept is catching on, because it has a successful business model that works well regardless of economic trends.  Plus, Doctors Express fills a growing, desperate need in this country for quality, affordable and accessible healthcare.  

According to the Urgent Care Association of America, there are currently some 9,000 urgent care facilities in the United States, and they're growing at a rate of 300 per year. They see on average 359 patients each a week and that number will continue to grow with the shortage of primary care doctors, a growing senior population who needs care, and the 32 million more people who will have health insurance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

"Healthcare is an industry that keeps growing because, despite the economy and looming healthcare changes, people will continue to need quality, affordable care," says Dave Sedgwick, President of Doctors Express. "We are the only franchise that allows a person with no medical background to own an urgent care center. The opportunity is attracting top business people and investors from all over the country." 

The Doctors Express business model is typically a unique pairing of a business person/ investor and a doctor. The business person/ investor typically owns the franchise management company while the doctor owns the medical care delivery arm of the franchise and serves as the center's medical director. These two companies are bonded contractually. This opportunity is also attracting doctors who yearn to escape the long hours and shrinking profits of private practice and hospital-based emergency departments.

"Doctors follow their passion and treat patients, while the business person handles the employees, paperwork and management side of the operation," says Sedgwick. "We've streamlined the processes for opening and building a successful urgent care center. Our support services and systematic processes have minimized the growing pains, guess work, and mistakes that non-franchised businesses encounter.  Doctors Express has already "vetted" start up tasks, suppliers, and training; so, new franchises can be opened and managed with experienced support systems already in place. Doctors Express is a tried and successful system."

This has been a very smart and profitable business investment," says Rick Crews, Master Franchisee of Doctors Express New England, who personally owns three centers in Massachusetts with his business partner Jim Brennan. "We have also helped six new franchisees open their franchisees in MA, for a total of seven centers in our master territory. We have plans to open several more in 2013 and beyond. We have capitalized on a desperate need in this country for quick, quality health care that will just continue to keep growing."

Specific Start Up Support Services

Doctors Express provides a wide range of start-up support services, including these three:

• Collective buying power so centers get discounts on everything from equipment to medicine 
• Help with site selection, real estate negotiation and build out
• Software and established systems for patient paperwork and insurance processing  

Patient Solution

Doctors Express is an attractive business model because it fills a gap in America's healthcare system which often does not accommodate busy families.

"When people are sick, they don't want to waste their entire day waiting for their doctors and they don't need the full scale resources or expense of a hospital emergency room," says Sedgwick. "We provide a high quality, low cost solution with typical wait times of 15 – 20 minutes."

The Doctors Express Offering

Doctors Express walk-in medical centers stand out from other urgent care centers by offering consistent, state-of-the-art broad range of treatment and services on the spot. Doctors and physician's assistants diagnose and treat illnesses, traumas and sports injuries, (including minor surgical procedures), dispense medication and have capabilities to X-ray and set broken bones, all under one roof. Pre-employment physicals, drug screening and treatment of work related injuries are also available to local employers.

The centers also have on-site labs that give quick test results for ailments such as mono and strep throat and will perform employment and sports physical exams, drug screenings and work-site inoculations for employers.

About Doctors Express:

Doctors Express was founded in Baltimore in 2005 by an emergency room physician seeking a more efficient, affordable and personable system for urgent care patients. In 2012, the business was acquired by Phoenix-based Immediate Clinic. Doctors Express walk-in medical centers are being opened across the country, as America's first nationally branded franchised urgent care system. Visit www.doctorsexpress.com.

Sue Yannello
Senior Catalyst
919 Marketing Company
919-557-7890 (Company)
919-459-8162 (Direct)
Email: [email protected] 
Web: www.919marketing.com

Media contact:
Stacey Hilton, [email protected]
919.459.8163

SOURCE Doctors Express