Eleven New Urgent Care Clinics Opening in Orlando

Orlando is experiencing a boom in urgent care clinics, with at least 11 new ones opening this year.

Among them:

Florida Hospital's Centra Care will open up to four new clinics, giving it a total of 20 in Central Florida.

Centra Care will hire 25 people to staff the facilities, giving it a total of 450 workers.

America's Urgent Care will open three new clinics, giving it a total of four locally.

The firm bought Pine Castle Walk in Clinic at 5636 Hansel Ave. in Pine Castle on Jan. 1 for an undisclosed amount and is doing $500,000 in renovations to the clinic.

The company is leasing space for another clinic in a new medical office building under construction in Celebration. America's Urgent Care is investing about $1 million in that location, which will open in November. Bush Architecture is designing the buildout. The company is still seeking a site for a fourth clinic somewhere in Orange County.

Minute Clinic this week opened a new Orlando location, its 500th nationwide and 10th in Orlando, with plans to open two more in Orlando this year.

The locations for the two new clinics have yet to be determined, says spokeswoman Jenna Scanlon. Minute Clinics in Orlando are most often located within CVS Pharmacies. Minute Clinic currently has 40 employees in Orlando, and will hire an unspecified number of workers for its new facilities.

The newest entry into the market, the MiniER, opened a 7,250-square-foot clinic at 12301 Lake Underhill Road in east Orlando on March 17 at a cost of just under $1 million. It plans to open another three Central Florida clinics in the next five years.

It's a trend that seems to be picking up steam. Consider: About 15 new clinics opened in Orlando during the past five years, says Dr. Franz Ritucci, president of the Orlando-based American Academy of Urgent Care Medicine.

"It's a growing market because the health care system is fairly broken," says Ritucci, adding that it's tough to get an appointment with a primary care physician, and emergency room wait times are extremely long. Says Ritucci, "It's a high-stakes adventure and investment, and you have to know how to do it right."

Healthy Trust Immediate Medical Care Walk-in clinic administers immediate non - urgent medical care during convenient hours. See our doctors for minor injuries or health problems, such as sprains, cuts, colds, flu's, and for other convenient health care services.