FindUrgentCare discounts monthly membership for UCAOA members!

The UCAOA put together a member benefit program, similar to our FindUrgentCare Partners Network, where members receive discounts from select vendors who offer products and services to the urgent care community. FindUrgentCare is among many others, and is offering exclusive discounts to UCAOA Members. Not only are UCAOA Members elligible to receive a 30 Day Free Trial on www.findurgentcare.com, but they are also elligible to receive an additional 10% off monthly membership. Click here to view the complete list of vendors featured in the UCAOA Member benefits.

FindUrgentCare is on Facebook!!

Yes we gave in =) And we are encouraging all of our members and urgent care centers nationwide to join too! You might be thinking, "I don't want to get sucked into the vacuum of this social media trend" but there is a reason everyone is doing it right now! 1) it is free, 2) It is fun!, 3) AND, it is a great way to get your name out and blast updates to your community! 4) Not to mention it is great to have your website linked as many places as possible- for search engine optimization purposes- especially high traffic, relevent sites like Facebook!

I had a ton of friends who were creating pages for their business and I honestly did not know what they were involved in before they created these pages! Some of them really good friends too. So even if you have to guilt your friends to link to your site- I highly recommend it!

Jump on the bandwagon! And request FindUrgentCare as a friend when you do =)

www.FindUrgentCare.com on Facebook

Tailor Marketing to a tightening Economy! Urgent tips for hurting Walk-in Facilites.

Up the Ante on your Stimulus Marketing!

"$55 Doctor Visits Offered to the Unemployed!","Health Stimulus Plan", just a couple million dollar catchphrases found in a recent Reliant Immediate Care press release. The LA-based urgent care facility has keenly observed that a great location can't be the only engine driving their marketing. Although they are located within minutes of the LAX airport, Dr. Lebow, Medical Director of Reliant Immediate Care knows the value of "upping the ante" on the marketing, especially during hard financial times for patients. They are utilizing FindUrgentcare to post special promotions in addition to the online press release to distinguish themselves as the walk-in facility for all types of patients and with varying financial circumstances. This is a prime example of creativity and great timing, as well as an exceptional demonstration of compassion and care for the community.

If your facility is offering specials to cash-paying or unemployed patients, tell them so! Get the word out in all of your marketing and update it on your FindUrgentCare webpage. You may very well be allowing the breadwinner of the family to return to the workforce, or treating a patient who otherwise would have neglected much needed care due to cost. Not only is it great marketing to spread the word, but it's a service to the community!

Great job Reliant Immediate Care, we hope you don't mind if a few clinics follow your lead =)

How many Urgent Care centers are there? Count with me!

I get asked this question all the time. The great thing is, now I don't have to feel silly when I say "I don't know!". The Urgent Care Association of America and The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine put together a survey, conducted extensive research on the topic- consulting every database in existence, and came up with the answer..."we don't know!" That is not to say there were no findings...read on.

The problem exists in the definition of Urgent Care- whether to include retail clinics (those located inside a retail store), hospital based-urgent care centers (sometimes labeled "urgent care" but in reality simply a fast-track located within the ED), Primary Care Centers that allow walk-ins but do not have extended hours. Centers like these that fall outside of the definition of urgent care were not indluded, but others that fell more in the gray area were what made it so difficult to count. There are centers that should legitimately be qualified as urgent care centers but are nowhere on the web or any registry. Simply put, the number was difficult to find, and admittedly incomplete, but the number of identifiable urgent care centers was found to be....drum roll please...roughly 8,000 urgent care centers nationwide- much less than the initial estimate of 12,000. The moral of the story? Promote your practice and you will be paving the way for research and education for the entire industry! For more info on the issue, check out the January 2009 issue of JUCM.

Happy Thanksgiving from FindUrgentCare!

We Have a Winner for the FindUrgentCare iPod Drawing!!

Click here to support the cause!<-----------



Congratz to Pat Alvarez of Sendas Northwest Urgent Care for winning the drawing for a brand new (red) iPod shuffle! A part of the proceeds of every (red) iPod shuffle are donated to the Global fund to help eliminate HIV in Africa.
Pat stopped by the FindUrgentCare booth at the UCAOA Conference in Memphis last week. Thanks for saying hi Pat! Enjoy!

Walkin in Memphis! Marketing Tidbits and Highlights from the 2008 UCAOA Fall Conference.

The Fall 2008 UCAOA Conference went great! It's a great chance for physicians to earn CME's as well as professionals in the Urgent Care industry to come together and learn from each other...and we manage to have some fun while we're at it!

I went to a great Marketing lecture by Sam Yates of Yates & Associates that touched on the importance of a strong web presence via Search Engine Optimization (SEO)- or boosting your website's ranking in searches targeted toward your desired audience. I was not surprised that not many in the audience were familiar with SEO, or even had a website. He threw out a couple compelling statistics- 75% of college students and young adults use the internet for their first stop for health care information... and did you know that 62% of buying decisions are made from web-based research? Maybe we should consider our web-exposure when trying to reach emerging generations as well as a very integral part of our target market...those who want to buy! Thanks Sam for a great lecture- I didn't even attempt to cover all of the great tips you included.

We also had a great time seeing some of our favorite exhibitors, meeting new clients as well as greeting others face to face that we've built relationships over the phone. We were happy to introduce our partnerships with Pharmalink and VaxServe of Sanofi Pasteur as exceptional vendors to the urgent care community. We met other potential partners and spoke with prospective clients about discounts offered to them on products and services through the FindUrgentCare Vendor Network. Thanks Becky and everyone at the UCAOA and John at PME Expo services for such a great conference!

Other Highlights: Walking down Beale street and hearing some great blues. Street acrobats and even acrobats in bars. The ducks in the Memphis Peabody Hotel that March down from the elevator and across the red carpet to play in the fountain. Experiencing some down home barbeque- just about every meal except for breakfast over the course of 3 days. Bread pudding. The sunset view from the top of the Memphis Peabody. Spotting Priscilla Presley. Touring Graceland.

Elvis lives!- Graceland Tour.---->


Amy and Elvis (left) at the Urgent Care America/ UCAOA party on top of the Peabody- just in time for the sunset.