Interviewer view · keep this screen to yourself

Standard: A health system considers urgent-care clinics

You run the case. Read the prompt, answer questions from the notes below, and share data only when the candidate asks for it or gets stuck. Score at the end.

Case timer

00:00

Target length:

1. Read the prompt aloud

Read it slowly, then pause. Let the candidate ask questions before they structure.

First, estimate how many urgent-care visits a year happen in a US metro area of 3 million people. Then: a local health system wants to open urgent-care clinics. How many, and will they make money?

Format note: Difficulty: Standard. Format: market-sizing opener, then a business question. Industry: Healthcare. Region: US. Interview length: about 30 minutes. The company is fictional and all figures are illustrative.

2. Answers to clarifying questions

Give these answers only if the candidate asks. If they ask something not listed, give a sensible answer or say it does not matter here.

If asked: What area?
Answer: A US metro area of about 3 million people.
If asked: How often do people use urgent care?
Answer: About 0.4 visits per person a year.
If asked: What share could our system win?
Answer: About 10 percent; a clinic handles about 15,000 visits a year.
If asked: For the business question, what does a clinic cost and earn?
Answer: About USD 1.2 million of fixed costs a year per clinic. A visit earns about USD 150 from commercial insurers and costs about USD 60 in variable costs.

3. The hypothesis a strong candidate states

Listen for an early, testable guess like this one. It does not need to match word for word.

Urgent care is a volume business with high fixed costs per clinic. My hypothesis is that the market supports several clinics, but payer mix decides whether each clinic makes money.

4. A model structure

Compare the candidate's structure with this one. A different split can be just as good if it is clean and fits the problem.

Size the visits, then test one clinic's economics
- People x visits per person x our share
- Clinics = our visits / visits per clinic
- Key: Break-even visits per clinic
- Payer mix

5. The working, step by step

Each step shows how a strong candidate works it out. Share a new fact from it only when the candidate asks or is stuck, and let them do the math: the result in the dark box is what they should reach.

Step 1: Visits in the metro area
What a strong candidate does: 3 million people at 0.4 visits a year.
Visits a year: 3,000,000 × 0.4 = 1,200,000
Step 2: Our visits
What a strong candidate does: A 10 percent share.
Our visits a year: 3,000,000 × 0.4 × 0.1 = 120,000
Step 3: Number of clinics
What a strong candidate does: At 15,000 visits each.
Clinics: 120,000 ÷ 15,000 = 8
Step 4: Break-even visits
What a strong candidate does: Each clinic has about USD 1.2 million of fixed costs a year; a visit earns USD 150 and costs USD 60.
Break-even visits a year: 1,200,000 ÷ (150 - 60) = 13,333
Step 5: Curveball: payer mix
What a strong candidate does: Interviewer: "About 30 percent of visits would be covered by Medicaid, which pays about USD 80." Blended revenue per visit:
Blended revenue per visit (USD): 0.7 × 150 + 0.3 × 80 = 129
Step 6: New break-even
What a strong candidate does: Fixed cost divided by the new contribution per visit.
Break-even visits a year: 1,200,000 ÷ (0.7 × 150 + 0.3 × 80 - 60) = 17,391
Step 7: Profit per clinic at 15,000 visits
What a strong candidate does: With the blended revenue.
Profit per clinic (USD a year): 15,000 × (129 - 60) - 1,200,000 = -165,000

The recommendation to listen for

At the end, say: "The CEO walks in. What is your recommendation?"

The metro area has about 1.2 million urgent-care visits a year, enough for about eight clinics at a 10 percent share, but not all of them would make money. First, at USD 150 per visit a clinic breaks even at about 13,300 visits. Second, with 30 percent Medicaid patients paying USD 80, break-even rises to about 17,400 visits, so a clinic at 15,000 visits loses about USD 165,000 a year. Third, the fix is better economics, not avoiding patients: choose sites on unmet demand and access, accept all payers, and close the gap through better Medicaid managed-care contracts, lower-cost staffing (nurse practitioners and physician assistants), evening hours to raise visits, and telehealth for simple cases.

Risks a strong answer names: Payer mix may differ by site; Retail clinics and telehealth rivals may take share.

Next steps: Map payer mix and competition by neighborhood; Model three clinics first, with evening hours.

Strong versus weak

A strong answer

Sized the market cleanly, then showed how payer mix moves break-even and shaped the plan around it.

A weak answer

Opened eight clinics because the market supports eight, without checking whether each one makes money.

Score the candidate

Score each criterion from 1 to 5. A 2 or a 4 sits between the descriptions.

This case has no exhibit. Score Exhibit reading on how the candidate used the data you gave them: did they pick out the number that matters and say what it means?

Structuring

1: No clear structure, or a memorized framework that does not fit the problem.
3: A sensible structure, but with some overlap, a gap, or no clear priority.
5: A structure built for this problem, with no overlap and no gaps, a stated hypothesis, and a clear first step.

Math

1: Frequent errors, no units, or needed heavy help to finish.
3: Right answers but slow or messy working, or one error caught late.
5: Accurate and clearly narrated, with units, a sense check, and what the number means.

Exhibit reading

1: Read the chart aloud without finding the number that matters.
3: Found the key number but gave only part of the so-what.
5: Pulled the right number quickly and said what it means for the case.

Synthesis

1: Summarized what was done, with no clear answer.
3: Gave an answer, but with weak reasons or no next step.
5: Answer first, then two or three reasons with numbers, the main risk, and next steps.

Communication

1: Hard to follow: long silences, no signposting.
3: Clear most of the time, with some rambling.
5: Calm and concise, signposted each step, and checked in with the interviewer.

Total

0 out of 25

Score all five criteria to see the band and the feedback template.