CareFirst Urgent Care Obtains Doctors’ Urgent Care Offices
By HCO Staff
CINCINNATI—CareFirst Urgent Care has acquired Doctors’ Urgent Care Offices. Doctors’ Urgent Care Offices, founded by C. Lawrence Decker, M.D., opened its first office in Springdale, Ohio, in 1982. Over the course of 39 years, Doctors’ Urgent Care Offices has opened the doors of 10 clinics providing urgent care and occupational medicine services to communities spanning from Dayton, OH, to Erlanger, Ky. With a clinic expansion rate of 875% from ’18 to ’21, CareFirst plans to apply its innovative patient experience model to the Doctors’ Urgent Care Offices clinics, standardizing fast wait times and professional healthcare across Central-Southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky.
Urgent care centers have played an integral role on the frontline defense to COVID-19, offering COVID-19 testing and affordable access to medical professionals. CareFirst has treated nearly 375,000 patients in 2021 and provides PCR, antibody, rapid antigen and rapid antibody testing to its patients.
“Siloing urgent care between several practices in the same market causes inconveniences for patients such as inconsistency in the quality of services, gaps in access to medical history records, billing nuances and a lack of personalized care,” said Chetan Gupta, M.D., Founder and CEO of CareFirst Urgent Care. “By operating the Doctors’ Urgent Care clinics under the CareFirst umbrella, we can now standardize the utmost urgent care experience at 36 clinics in Central-Southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky where we accept most major insurances and invite patients to walk-in 7 days a week.”
Akin to CareFirst, Doctors’ Urgent Care Offices provide treatment of non-life-threatening injuries and illnesses, including x-rays, laboratory testing and occupational health services. During the pandemic, the Doctors’ clinics have not provided COVID-19 rapid testing. Doctors’ CEO, C. Lawrence Decker, M.D., sees a great opportunity to provide added services, such as COVID-19 rapid testing, in addition to increased convenience for employers utilizing their occupational health services.
“The acquisition is a mutually beneficial opportunity for our organizations and our patients, as we are more resourceful as one team focused on the same mission of providing easy access to professional urgent care services in Ohio and Kentucky,” said C. Lawrence Decker, M.D., CEO of Doctors’ Urgent Care Offices. “I am excited by the opportunity to apply CareFirst’s operating model to our clinics and provide walk-in access to a wider array of urgent care services including COVID-19 rapid testing. The growth CareFirst has had is due to the organization’s commitment to putting patient CareFirst, and I’m excited to continue to advance that mission.”
COVID-19 rapid antigen, PCR and antibody tests, urgent care, primary care and occupational medicine services are available immediately at the new CareFirst clinics. CareFirst patients now have access to 36 clinics in OH and KY that understand their medical history and can provide personalized professional healthcare.
Founded in 2011 by Chetan Gupta, M.D., CareFirst Urgent Care is the largest independent urgent care provider in Cincinnati with 39 clinics across OH, KY, NV and FL. CareFirst treats non-life-threatening injuries and illnesses 363 days a year, with COVID-19 testing and occupational medicine services for employers available.