| Course | HS230 Health Care Administration |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 3 |
| Paper type | Facility type comparison |
| Length | About 860 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Health Science |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HS230 Unit 3
A Pharmacy Clinic and an Urgent Care Center on the Same Street: A Unit 3 Facility Type Comparison on Six Dimensions
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
HS230: Health Care Administration
Unit 3 Facility Type Comparison
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The two facilities are composite; the studies and textbook cited are real.
The Pair
The retail clinic occupies two exam rooms at the back of a national pharmacy chain's store. The urgent care center occupies a former bank building a block away, with six exam rooms, an X-ray room and a small laboratory. Both are open evenings and weekends and accept walk-ins.
Dimension 1: Ownership
Retail clinic: owned by the pharmacy corporation, a publicly traded company that operates clinics in many states. Urgent care center: part of a regional health system whose holdings include two hospitals and several primary care practices. Ownership shapes purpose: the retail clinic supports the store's pharmacy and front-store sales, while the urgent care center feeds patients into the health system's specialists and hospitals when they need more care.
Dimension 2: Staffing
Retail clinic: one nurse practitioner on each shift, with a physician available by phone under state collaboration rules. Urgent care center: a physician or a physician assistant on each shift, nurses or medical assistants, a radiologic technologist and front-desk staff.
Dimension 3: Scope of Services
Retail clinic: a defined list of minor illnesses and preventive services, such as sore throats, ear infections, pink eye, vaccinations and school physicals, with point-of-care tests such as rapid strep. No X-rays, stitches for complex wounds or intravenous fluids. Urgent care center: a broader range that includes minor fractures, lacerations needing stitches, X-rays, simple laboratory tests and intravenous fluids for dehydration.
A patient with a sprained ankle that might be broken belongs a block away from the retail clinic, because the difference between the two is mostly what each building can do.
Dimension 4: Payment
Retail clinic: posted prices for each service, accepts most commercial insurance and Medicare, and is often the lowest-cost option. A study comparing episodes of care for common illnesses found that care started at retail clinics cost less than care started at physician offices, urgent care centers or emergency departments, with similar quality scores (Mehrotra et al., 2009). Urgent care center: billed through the health system, often with an urgent care copay higher than a primary care copay, and facility charges in some arrangements.
Dimension 5: Oversight
Retail clinic: state licensing of the nurse practitioner, state rules on scope of practice and collaboration, pharmacy board rules for the store and voluntary accreditation for some chains. Urgent care center: state facility licensing where required, physician licensing, X-ray equipment registration with the state, laboratory certification under federal rules and accreditation by an urgent care accrediting body in some cases.
Dimension 6: Place in the Delivery System
Retail clinic: designed for convenience and low-acuity care. Research suggests many retail clinic visits are new visits that would not otherwise have happened, so retail clinics may add to total spending rather than replacing more expensive care (Ashwood et al., 2016). Urgent care center: positioned as an alternative to the emergency department for problems that need same-day care but not an emergency, and as an entry point into the health system.
A Patient's Path Through Each
Consider two patients on the same Tuesday evening. The first is a 22-year-old student whose throat has hurt for two days. At the retail clinic, the nurse practitioner sees her within twenty minutes, runs a rapid strep test, prescribes an antibiotic that she picks up at the pharmacy counter on the way out and records the visit in a system that can send a summary to her primary care office if she names one. The second is a 40-year-old who fell on a wet step and has a swollen, painful ankle. At the retail clinic, the nurse practitioner cannot take an X-ray and sends him down the street. At the urgent care center, he is seen, X-rayed and splinted, and the center books him with the health system's orthopedic clinic later in the week. The two paths show the facilities working as designed: one optimized for fast, simple care and the other able to handle a wider range and link into specialty services.
Questions an Administrator Would Ask
Which conditions should be redirected at the door, and who decides? How will visit records reach the patient's primary care provider? How will the facility measure whether it is replacing more expensive visits or adding new ones? Each question follows directly from one of the six dimensions.
What the Comparison Shows
Most differences flow from scope. The retail clinic's small staff and limited equipment keep its prices low and its services narrow. The urgent care center's equipment and staffing let it handle more but cost more. Ownership adds a second layer: a pharmacy-owned clinic and a health-system-owned center serve different organizational goals, even when they treat the same sore throat.
Implications for Administrators
Administrators in either setting need clear scope rules so patients are redirected safely, referral relationships with primary care and attention to how convenience care affects overall costs (Shi & Singh, 2022).
References
Ashwood, J. S., Gaynor, M., Setodji, C. M., Reid, R. O., Weber, E., & Mehrotra, A. (2016). Retail clinic visits for low-acuity conditions increase utilization and spending. Health Affairs, 35(3), 449-455. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2015.0995
Mehrotra, A., Liu, H., Adams, J. L., Wang, M. C., Lave, J. R., Thygeson, N. M., Solberg, L. I., & McGlynn, E. A. (2009). Comparing costs and quality of care at retail clinics with that of other medical settings for 3 common illnesses. Annals of Internal Medicine, 151(5), 321-328. https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-151-5-200909010-00006
Shi, L., & Singh, D. A. (2022). Delivering health care in America: A systems approach (8th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
The Purdue Global HS230 Unit 3 instructions
Unit 3 has students compare two facility types on a shared set of dimensions, often in a table or in parallel sections. Most comparisons run a few pages. Instructors expect the same dimensions applied to both facilities, a pair chosen so the comparison isolates a meaningful difference and evidence for claims about cost or quality. Many sections ask students to explain what the differences mean for patients and administrators. Ownership, staffing, services, payment and regulation are common dimensions. Using composite facilities, or real ones with identifying details removed, is usually acceptable, and a short table can summarize the dimensions after the prose comparison. A concluding section that explains the main source of difference, rather than restating each dimension, often earns credit.
How this HS230 Unit 3 example is built
The comparison describes the two buildings and then applies six numbered dimensions to each, in the same order for both buildings: ownership and purpose, staffing and supervision, scope with examples of what each can and cannot handle, payment with cost evidence from a multi-setting study, oversight from licensing to accreditation and place in the delivery system with evidence that retail visits may add spending. The highlighted sentence uses a possibly broken ankle to mark the scope boundary. A section follows two patients through the facilities on the same evening. Administrator questions follow from each dimension, and the conclusion argues that scope explains most of the differences, with ownership as a second layer.
Where the points sit in the HS230 Unit 3 rubric
Facility comparisons tend to be marked on consistency of dimensions, accuracy of facts, use of evidence, insight into what drives the differences and clarity. Insight draws the most points in many rubrics, because the unit aims to explain why facilities differ, not just how. Consistency earns credit when every dimension is applied to both facilities in the same order. Accuracy rewards correct staffing, scope and oversight details. Evidence from published studies, such as cost comparisons across settings, strengthens payment and system claims. Parallel structure, plain explanations and accurate citations finish the assessment. Comparisons that list features without drawing a conclusion usually score in the middle range.
HS230 Unit 3 help from the desk
One recurring problem is a comparison in which each facility is described in its own section using different categories, so differences are hard to see. Another is overstating the retail clinic's scope or understating the urgent care center's. Some students rely on company websites for claims about cost or quality instead of studies. Others ignore ownership, which shapes each facility's purpose. Ending without explaining the main source of difference leaves the analysis incomplete, and a reader cannot tell which difference matters most. If your prompt names a different pair, perhaps a freestanding emergency department and a hospital emergency department, send it, and we will compare them on the same dimensions with evidence.
Get an HS230 Unit 3 example written to your instructions
Say which two ownership models your Unit 3 prompt pairs, since some pair government and nonprofit instead, and send the instructions and rubric. Both composite facilities are matched on size and market before any row is filled, and the comparison arrives within 24-48h. Nothing is owed for a first custom sample. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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HS230 Unit 3 questions, answered
Does ownership change the decisions a department manager controls?
Often less than expected, and the example says so. Both managers work within an approved budget and answer to a director. The differences show in approval chains, where an investor-owned system may route capital requests through a regional or corporate office, and in the metrics reported upward. The analysis treats these as typical patterns rather than rules for every system.
Where can I find a free HS230 Unit 3 sample paper?
The complete Unit 3 comparison of a retail clinic and an urgent care center is posted here, applying six identical dimensions to both.
Do retail clinics lower health care spending?
Not necessarily. One study found retail clinic episodes cost less than other settings, but another found many retail visits were new visits, which modestly increased spending overall.
Why compare facilities a block apart?
Placing them close together removes location as an explanation, so the differences that remain come from ownership, staffing and scope.
Who staffs a retail clinic?
Usually a nurse practitioner or physician assistant on each shift, with a physician available by phone under state collaboration rules.