AZLE — In shark-infested waters, Azle is a calm refuge. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the urgent care market has undergone rapid changes. At a recent chamber luncheon, Urgent Care TX Vice President of Operations Jason Nicholas spoke with the Tri-County Reporter and local businesses emphasizing the ripples that some of these changes are having in small communities like Azle.
“The urgent care market is changing,” Nicholas said “The big fish have turned into sharks.”
Urgent care facilities provide same-day treatment for non-life-threatening illnesses and injuries that are not severe enough to warrant a visit to the emergency room. The years following the COVID-19 pandemic represented a major spike in growth and patient utilization for the urgent care industry. According to the Urgent Care Association, patient volume increased 60% between 2019 and 2022.
With more money to be made, private equity and larger organizations with more financial backing moved fast to take advantage of the growth.
Nicholas said that in trying to compete with one another, organizations on the scale of Texas Health Resources and Baylor Scott & White have been rapidly building new urgent care facilities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. In doing so, he said they often buy out or out-compete smaller operations, sometimes causing them to have to close down.
“CareNow bought out Medspring, so they went from having 20 or 30 to now, like 50 or 60 urgent cares in the area,” Nicholas said.
Urgent Care TX is an urgent care company that opened its Azle location in March. The company hopes to survive competition with the big players by staying out of their way and focusing on small, but rapidly growing, communities surrounding the DFW metroplex. Urgent Care TX has offices in Cleburne, Lancaster, Benbrook and now Azle. Nicholas credits its acceptance of a broad range of insurance and payment options as another strategy for its success. The clinic has drawn in patients from the surrounding areas, including Decatur, Boyd, Briar, Springtown, Bridgeport, Paradise, Weatherford and Aledo. The facility has also partnered with Azle ISD for school physicals.
Originally, the urgent care had plans to build in an empty lot near Walmart. However, after assessing costs and logistics, they opted for the suite that formerly housed SurePoint Family Medicine at 601 Northwest Parkway.
“Instead of six to nine months getting in and spending $800,000, we spent three weeks getting in and only $75,000,” Nicholas said.
This efficient approach to expansion has allowed the clinic to focus on delivering care to a growing number of patients. Nicholas noted that in January alone, the facility treated 862 patients, with over 5,000 served from March to December in the greater Azle area. This demand has prompted further expansion considerations, with Decatur being a potential future location.
Nicholas and his team sponsored meals at the Feb. 4 Azle Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon, saying the “real community feel” and closer connections that businesses and individuals can make in areas like Azle was a big point in the city’s favor.
“We like that small town feel,” Nicholas said. “We like strong communities. A thousand dollars spent in Azle goes a whole lot further than spending $1,000 in Fort Worth.”
