Valuing Urgent Care Centers in 2025: A Comprehensive Guide for Physician-Owners, Operators, Investors, and M&A Professionals

Will Hamilton
May 21
8 min read

Urgent Care Centers (UCCs) stand out from other healthcare service providers for their low cost, convenience, and alignment with emerging population health strategies. Valuing an urgent care center requires more than just applying a standard EBITDA multiple—it involves understanding the unique dynamics of walk-in care, including reimbursement trends, patient volumes, and provider staffing models. As the U.S. healthcare system continues to shift toward value-based care and private equity and health systems continue consolidating the space, centers with strong operational infrastructure and growth potential can command premium valuations.

Whether you're preparing to sell a urgent care center or portfolio of urgent care centers, evaluating a partnership opportunity, or seeking to benchmark financial performance, this article explores the key valuation methodologies, drivers, and risk factors that determine the value of an urgent care business.

I. Industry Context: Why Urgent Care is in Demand

The U.S. urgent care industry has experienced significant growth over the past decade, driven by increasing patient demand for convenient, cost-effective healthcare solutions. Urgent care centers bridge the gap between primary care and emergency departments, offering walk-in services for non-life-threatening conditions such as minor injuries, infections, and respiratory illnesses. With over 14,000 centers nationwide as of 2023, the market has nearly doubled since 2014. According to one source, the market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.3% between 2025 and 2034. As regulatory frameworks evolve and reimbursement models shift, urgent care centers remain well-positioned to address gaps in the healthcare system while adapting to emerging challenges.

Key Growth Drivers

Key growth drivers for the industry include the following:

Evolving Consumer Preferences: Patients increasingly demand convenience, transparency, and extended hours, which urgent care centers provide compared to traditional healthcare settings.
Growing Incidence of Chronic Diseases and Aging Population: The rise in chronic diseases and an aging population increases demand for convenient healthcare services offered by urgent care centers.
Cost-Effectiveness: Urgent care centers operate at lower costs than emergency rooms, making them attractive for both patients and insurers seeking affordable non-emergency care.
Rising Demand for Telehealth Services: Telehealth expands access to urgent care services for patients in remote areas, reducing wait times and increasing convenience.
Strategic Collaborations and Partnerships: Partnerships between urgent care centers, hospitals, and retail clinics improve patient flow, reduce ER congestion, and expand service offerings.
Extended Hours and On-Site Diagnostic Capabilities: Additionally, extended hours and on-site diagnostic capabilities, such as X-rays and lab tests, make urgent care centers an attractive alternative to emergency rooms.

Reimbursement Outlook

The reimbursement environment for urgent care centers is expected to hold steady to modestly improve over 2025–2026, with in-network commercial reimbursement remaining the financial backbone of the space from an investability perspective. Payer site-of-care policies continue to favor shifting low-acuity visits from emergency departments to urgent care settings, which supports volume growth, though pricing increases will likely be modest given broader margin pressure within health plans. Centers that effectively optimize coding, manage denial rates, and expand virtual or hybrid care offerings may achieve modest reimbursement improvement, but meaningful rate enhancements are unlikely without sustained pressure on payers or regulatory reform.

II. Top Reasons to Get a Valuation of Your Urgent Care Center or Portfolio of Centers

The following is a list of common reasons for commissioning a valuation analysis or appraisal of an urgent care business:

1. Preparing for a Sale or Strategic Partnership

To establish a defensible asking price when marketing the business
To evaluate offers from private equity, strategic buyers, or joint venture partners
To understand how your clinic compares to market benchmarks

2. Internal Ownership Transition

For buy-in or buy-out of partners or associates
To support fair and compliant equity allocation among clinicians
To plan for generational succession or family transfers

3. Compliance with Healthcare Regulations

To support Fair Market Value (FMV) and Commercial Reasonableness (CR) assessments required by Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute in deals involving ownership by other healthcare providers
To document compliance in joint ventures, especially when there is a referral relationships (hospitals, ancillary service providers, or other physicians)

4. Estate & Tax Planning

For gift or estate tax reporting to the IRS (especially for closely held businesses)
To support asset protection strategies
To plan for long-term wealth transfer or charitable contributions

5. Litigation or Dispute Resolution

For divorce proceedings involving business asset division
In shareholder or partnership disputes
For economic damages assessments in legal proceedings

6. Business Planning & Strategic Growth

To establish a valuation baseline for performance benchmarking
To support capital raise, refinancing, or line-of-credit applications
To identify value drivers and areas for operational improvement

III. Valuation Approaches for Urgent Care Centers

Valuation professionals typically apply three core methodologies to estimate the value of an urgent care center:

Income Approach (Discounted Cash Flow or Capitalization of Earnings)

This approach values a business based on the present value of its expected future earnings or cash flows. It’s most appropriate when a business has a stable operating history and predictable future performance.

Key assumptions include:

Normalized EBITDA or owner’s discretionary earnings
Growth rate assumptions (organic and acquisitive)
Risk-adjusted discount rate (typically 10–25% for urgent care centers)
Capital expenditure needs

Pros: Based on the business’ future earning power

Cons: Sensitive to forecasting errors and discount rate subjectivity

Market Approach (Comparable Transaction Method, e.g. Market Multiples)

This method uses observed EBITDA multiples or revenue multiples from recent M&A transactions in the urgent care space. Typical multiples for smaller urgent care operators are within the range of 4x to 8x EBITDA, depending on a wide variety of factors.

This article includes more details and information about urgent care valuation multiples.

Pros: Easy to benchmark; useful in active M&A environments

Cons: Requires access to quality private market data and careful adjustment for size, margin, geography, and a variety of other factors

Asset-Based Approach

Used only when the business is underperforming or being liquidated. The value is derived from the net assets (e.g., equipment, leasehold improvements) minus liabilities.

Pros: Useful in distressed scenarios

Cons: Intangible value can be difficult to quantify under this method

IV. Key Value Drivers in Urgent Care Valuation

Several specific factors can materially influence an urgent care clinic's valuation multiple:

Earnings Quality

Buyers and valuation professionals place significant emphasis on normalized EBITDA and / or cash flow. Adjustments often include:

Owner compensation (if above/below market)
Non-recurring revenue or expenses
Related-party lease arrangements
Post-transaction adjustments
Out-of-period adjustments

Growth Potential

Discount rates and valuation multiples are a function of perceived risk and growth. Key considerations within the urgent care industry related to growth include the following:

Profit Margins & Operational Efficiency: Higher EBITDA margins, driven by optimized provider productivity, efficient scheduling, and strong billing practices, result in higher valuations.
Scale & Number of Locations: Multi-location operators with regional density typically receive higher multiples due to scalability, brand strength, and operational efficiencies.
Owner Dependence & Management Structure: Operators with a strong management team and minimal reliance on the owner for day-to-day operations are valued higher, as they present a smoother transition for buyers.

Risk Factors

Key considerations within the urgent care industry related to risk include the following:

Revenue Diversification & Payer Mix: Urgent care centers heavily rely on favorable reimbursement from commercial insurers. A shift toward lower-paying government payers (Medicare/Medicaid) or increases in denied or underpaid claims can compress margins. Poor contract terms or reliance on out-of-network billing also pose significant revenue risks.
Provider Dependence and Staffing Challenges: Heavy reliance on one or two high-producing physicians or advanced practice providers creates continuity risk. Additionally, recruiting and retaining qualified clinical staff, especially in competitive or rural markets, can be costly and impact capacity or service quality.
Regulatory & Compliance Risks: Urgent care centers must comply with federal and state regulations related to billing, patient privacy (HIPAA), scope of practice, and lab services. Non-compliance or improper coding (e.g., upcoding visits) can lead to audits, fines, or recoupments, especially for Medicare and Medicaid patients.
Market Competition and Patient Volume Volatility: New market entrants, retail clinics, or health system-owned urgent care locations can erode patient volumes. Patient loyalty in urgent care is limited, and volumes are highly sensitive to local population shifts, seasonality, and changes in employer contracts or referral patterns.

V. Current Market Trends in Urgent Care M&A

The number of announced urgent care M&A deals declined from the peak of 44 in 2021 to 27 in 2024. However, consolidation remains a defining trend, with private equity firms and healthcare corporations acquiring smaller operators to expand their footprint and improve operational efficiencies. For example, companies like HCA and NextCare have pursued strategic acquisitions to strengthen their market presence.

The market for urgent care centers ranges from individual entrepreneurs to hospitals to private equity-backed platform companies. The following table presents private equity platform investments in the industry since the beginning of 2021.

Multiples for Single Location Urgent Care Clinics

According to our research, small single- location urgent care centers are listed for sale for between 0.7x and 1.3x revenue at the 25th and 75th percentiles, respectively, and between 3.3x and 5x owner cash flow. Occasionally reported owner cash flow includes owner compensation, which can significantly reduce the multiple if the owner is actively involved in operating the business (or even providing patient care).

Impact of Size on Urgent Care EBITDA Multiples

To better illustrate the impact of size on urgent care valuations, we combined our active listings research with urgent care deals from the Scope Research Healthcare M&A Valuation Database and compared the size of the acquired company in terms of EBITDA to the implied multiple from the transaction. On the low end, multiples range from 3x to 5x cash flow, while multiples for larger, fast-growing platforms can get up into the 12x to 15x EBITDA range (although several of these multiples are from the mid 2010s boom).

VI. Final Thoughts: Keys to Maximizing Value

If you're an urgent care center owner or executive planning to explore a sale or equity partnership, consider the following strategies to enhance your valuation:

Diversify and Optimize Payer Mix: Negotiate favorable rates with insurers and explore offering cash-pay services such as physicals, travel medicine, or occupational health, which can enhance revenue without increasing payer complexity.
Standardize Processes and Ensure Compliance: Implement standardized clinical protocols, efficient EMRs, and scalable staffing models. Centers with well-documented processes and coding compliance with minimal dependence on individual providers are more transferable and attractive to acquirers.
Invest in Growth: Open new clinics, extend hours, or integrate virtual care options to drive revenue without proportional cost increases. Add occupational medicine, telehealth, diagnostics (X-ray, lab), or limited primary care to broaden revenue streams and reduce dependency on episodic care alone.
Professionalize Financials: Buyers prefer accrual-based, GAAP-compliant statements.

About HealthFMV

HealthFMV specializes in appraising healthcare businesses and services arrangements, including urgent care centers.

Business Valuation: We perform independent, third-party valuations of healthcare businesses to document regulatory, tax, and financial reporting compliance, resolve ownership disputes, and help ensure both parties to the transaction are comfortable with the financial terms.
Transaction Advisory: We work with healthcare business owners, organization executives, providers, and their health lawyers to develop transaction structures and deal terms that further their business objectives while maintaining compliance with the complex healthcare regulatory environment.
Services Arrangements: We prepare fair market value and commercial reasonableness opinions for a variety of healthcare services arrangements including management services, hospital-based specialty stipends, case rates and PC/TC splits, block leasing, and shared savings distributions, among others.

Contact Will Hamilton at whamilton@healthfmv.com with questions about our healthcare valuation services or to discuss your specific situation. Visit scoperesearch.co for more information about our healthcare M&A research services.