Gathering Information About Urgent Care Centers and Retail Clinics in Massachusetts

What We Did:

The Massachusetts Health Policy Commission (HPC) sought to identify all urgent care centers (defined as those sites that serve at least all adult patients on a walk-in basis and have hours of service beyond normal weekday business hours), as well as all limited service/retail clinics licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Using available data sets as well as information gathered through direct outreach, the HPC compiled basic information including location, hours, and ownership/affiliation. Analysis and visualization of this data along with cost and utilization data was presented in a 2019 publication, HPC DataPoints, Issue 8: Urgent Care Centers and Retail Clinics.

In June of 2021, the HPC awarded MHQP a contract to execute a data gathering effort related to urgent care centers and limited service/retail clinics in Massachusetts. The output of this work will be the publication of a refreshed list of these urgent care centers and limited service/retail clinics. Further, this project will augment the previous database by collecting additional types of data not previously collected such as types of services offered, insurance accepted, and more.

Who Was Involved:

MHQP conducted this work in partnership with the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission (HPC), an independent state agency that develops policy to reduce health care cost growth and improve the quality of patient care.

Why This Work Matters:

This project is critical because it helps to ensure that Massachusetts’ database of urgent care centers and limited service/retail clinics is as current and comprehensive as possible. The data collected as part of this project will be publicly available through the HPC.