Partners Closes Burlington Walk-In Clinic

BURLINGTON, MA — Partners HealthCare is closing walk-in urgent care clinics in Burlington and Medford. The company said staffing problems and low patients numbers prompted the move. While the company may reopen the Medford clinic, it has no immediate plans to reopen the Burlington location at 47 Middlesex Turnpike.

"There’s a market there," Partners chief financial officer Peter Markell told the Boston Globe, which first reported this story. "It’s just about execution, getting the marketing strategy right, getting the staffing right."

The state's largest healthcare provider entered the urgent care market in 2015 when it partnered with Texas-based MedSpring. The company operates eight other walk-in urgent care clinics, and plans to open additional locations in Westwood and Natick this summer.

The business model has exploded in recent years, as patients seek lower-cost options to hospital emergency rooms to treat routine illnesses and minor injuries.Statewide, there are about 150 such centers operated by a mix of nonprofit and for-profit companies.

For more on this story, see the Boston Globe.