Urgent care centers are becoming increasingly popular among patients. They’re not only more affordable than traditional care options, but they also offer perks like shorter wait times and immediate medical attention. We analyzed data from Optum Market Advantage (OMA) to estimate the difference in referral patterns, and ultimately downstream revenue, when patients choose to seek out care from an urgent care-based PCP versus a non-urgent care-based PCP.¹ To do so, we looked at the median revenue earned from urgent care and non-urgent care facilities in the United States in over 47 inpatient and outpatient service lines. We found two things to be true; first, the services referred to hospitals are the same regardless of status as an urgent care-based PCP. Second, the revenue that hospitals can unlock is higher from urgent care-based PCPs than non-urgent care-based PCPs.