Houston-based Next Level Urgent Care plans to open 20 new locations through the rest of the year, including sites outside of Houston for the first time.

The urgent care company has 24 locations and will add its new locations in suburban Houston, as well as 12 in San Antonio and Austin and one in Beaumont. Most of its existing locations are already in the suburbs, including locations in Conroe and Lake Jackson.

The company recently added both clinical research and employer-paid memberships and has about 600,000 patients a year.

“Our growth mirrors the need for an affordable alternative for convenient care,” Next Level Urgent Care founder and CEO Dr. Juliet Breeze said in a release.

As part of its aggressive growth plan, the company established a clinical research department in 2020 to perform clinical trials on behalf of several major drug companies.

“Even though urgent care is in our name, we’ve expanded our vision to encompass much more,” Breeze said.

Medical retail offerings like urgent care facilities are on the rise, and retail landlords have increasingly turned to the sector to fill spaces, Bisnow reported. New development is especially cropping up in suburban Houston as medical providers seek to plant posts where more and more Houstonians are living.