Urgent care clinics are some of the most popular and some of the fastest-growing medical practices in the United States. However, you may be considering opening your own urgent care practice where you can make your own decisions and hire your own staff. If that’s the case for you, here are four steps to take to successfully open your own urgent care practice.

#1: Become an Urgent Care Physician

Obviously, the first step to owning your own urgent care practice is to become an urgent care physician. Becoming any type of physician is a long and vigorous path, starting with earning your Bachelor’s degree in a field such as biology, chemistry, physics, or psychology. It’s also a good idea to look into volunteer work if you’re planning to pursue a career in medicine. Next, you’ll need to complete medical school and your residency (which can take up to eight years) before you can practice as a physician. 

It’s also a good idea to get some experience working as an urgent care physician before you open your own practice. This will give you even more experience working in an urgent care setting and will give you an idea of how you’d like to set up your practice.

#2: Obtain Funding and Take Care of Legal Aspects

Write a Business Plan

Once you’ve decided that opening your own practice is something you want to do, you’re going to need to obtain funding— and you do this by writing a business plan. Anyone who wants to start any type of business needs to write a business plan, not only to plan out the course of their business but to appeal to financial institutions. There is a specific part in a business plan that allows you to account for all of your expenses so lenders can see how much money you’re going to need to borrow. For an urgent care practice, you’re going to need a building and various pieces of medical equipment and furniture.

Register Your Business and Get Insurance

After your business plan has been accepted and you’ve received financing, you can choose a location for your business and get it registered as a legal entity. Depending on the state your practice is located in, you may need an urgent care license (as opposed to a typical healthcare license)  to legally open your business. You’ll also need to determine if you’re going to register your practice as an LLC (limited liability corporation), or another type of business structure.

Don’t forget to obtain all of the necessary business insurance you’re going to need for your practice. Medical malpractice insurance is the most common type of insurance that medical facilities have, but you’re also going to need workers’ compensation insurance for your staff and you’ll also benefit from having commercial property insurance to protect the physical building.

#3: Purchase Medical Equipment

When all of the legal matters have been taken care of, you can focus on equipping your practice with the medical devices you’re going to need. Typical equipment found in an urgent care facility includes:

• Audiometers
• ECG/EKG machines
• Hematology equipment
• IVs
• Microscopes
• X-ray machines

Make sure that you don’t forget to equip your practice with basic furniture pieces for your staff and your patients. You’ll need waiting room furniture, such as chairs and tables, and you’re also going to need desks and chairs for your staff.

#4: Hire Your Staff

Finally, and the most important thing you’re going to need is a staff of qualified physicians and other healthcare professionals. Some of the professionals you’ll want to hire include licensed practical nurses (LPNs), certified medical assistants, X-ray technicians, physician assistants, and even nurse practitioners, who can practice medicine without your supervision in most states. You may also want to hire some additional urgent care physicians. Let them know you’re hiring by posting open urgent care positions on job search sites.

If you’re not sure about opening your own urgent care facility, then you can look into working at another urgent care center if you’re not happy with the one you’re currently at. Job availability and outlook are high for urgent care physicians and other types of healthcare professionals. Keep this in mind if you do decide to open your own practice because you’ll want to be able to hire the most qualified healthcare professionals for your personal practice.