No Sign Available? Try a Billboard.

A year ago, Mickey Jones was starting an urgent care in a great location in Lehigh Acres, Florida. But he had one problem--no signage, and no available signage. There was a large billboard in front of his center, but he wasn't sure if buying space on the billboard would be cost-effective. To get some outside input, he discussed his situation with us at Practice Velocity. If he could afford it, it seemed like a great idea. We suggested that he make it clear that the billboard was acting as a giant sign on the street for his center. We suggested that he put a large arrow pointing to the center with the words, "Right Here." We encouraged him to see what kind of price he could get on the billboard. In the current recession, prices were quite reasonable.

We talked to him this week, and he told us that he had done exactly what we had suggested, and the results speak for themselves. The billboard is by far the number one marketing source for new patients at the urgent care center.

Advantages of billboard signage include:

• Little up-front cost. Permanent signs can add $50,000-$100,000 to your startup cost.


• Pay as you go. You are simply leasing the signage. Someone else is paying the capital cost of the sign infrastructure.


• Can swap out graphics for a low price

Disadvantages include:

• Price may go up. It might be a good idea to sign a contract for the length of your lease.


• Increases financial risk of failure. You can avoid this risk by not signing a personal guarantee, i.e., sign the lease for your LLC, not as an individual


• Unsightly. Everyone knows that billboards can be an eyesore, but the billboard is going to be there anyways. This allows you to control how the sign looks.

Our advice isn't guaranteed to always work out this well, but if you are starting a new urgent care we encourage you to consider coming to our headquarters near Chicago, IL and visit us for a free, full-day consultation tour of the 13 urgent care centers we own. Over 500 urgent care professionals have visited in the last two years. We would be honored to host your team.

Practice Velocity® Urgent Care EMR Now Serving Urgent Care Centers in Forty-Eight States

Dr. Mark Ibsen and the rest of the Urgent Care Plus team

With the opening of Urgent Care Plus, Practice Velocity^® now is the EMR of choice for urgent care centers in forty-eight states.

Urgent Care Plus opened its doors to serve patients in Helena, MT in January, 2010. With the addition of Urgent Care Plus, Practice Velocity^® Urgent Care EMR serves the charting, coding and billing needs of over 600 urgent care centers in 48 states. The center has installed the online Practice Velocity Urgent Care EMR and practice management software.

Downtown Helena had no access to urgent care services, so this new center was welcomed by the people living in the area, and the clinic has already seen over 20 patients in a single day. Helena has a population of 30,000 and the surrounding area has a population of 80,000. It is the capital city of the State of Montana. An area of this size can easily support three urgent care centers.

Medical Director and owner Dr. Mark Ibsen has twenty-seven years of emergency medicine experience. Dr. Ibsen captures the vision for Urgent Care Plus with the motto, “The healing begins when you walk through the door.” He added, “We provide acute care with speed, compassion and thoroughness.”

We always say to our customers that, "It’s not about our software; it’s all about your urgent care success." We are honored to help this new urgent care clinic serve the people of their community.

PV Billing, a subsidiary of Practice Velocity, provides the back-office billing functions for the urgent care. In 2009, PV Billing processed over $100-million in claims. Their specialized urgent care expertise allows urgent care physicians to take care of patients and leave the complexities of the billing functions to specialists in urgent care billing.

The Practice Velocity team is unparalleled in experience and expertise, with a combined 200-years-plus experience in urgent care. These professionals have designed every aspect of the urgent care EMR, making the software uniquely focused on urgent care. That may be why more urgent care centers use Practice Velocity systems for charting and coding than every other system combined.

For more information, call Dana Flores at 815-544-7480 or click here to contact us online or to schedule an urgent care EMR web demo.