Urgent Care for Kids, a pediatric urgent care company, is moving its headquarters to The Woodlands, with The Woodlands clinic planned to open in September or October and several other Houston area clinics likely to open in the next year.

"It's a market we can obviously grow in a lot faster," Marketing Director Emily Allen said. "We're just trying to reach out to all the markets where we're needed."

Allen said Urgent Care for Kids has two clinics in the Dallas-Forth Worth area, and the first Houston-area clinic will open in Katy at 23720 Westheimer Parkway on Aug. 29. The Woodlands' clinic, located near the Pinecroft Shopping Center off of Lake Woodlands Drive, will open in September or October, and will be located in the same building as the company's headquarters.

A third location in West University is already under construction, Allen said, while another three to five clinics could open in 2014 in the Houston area. She could not confirm where the new clinics could be located.

Allen said there are about 20 pediatric urgent care clinics in the Dallas-Forth Worth area, compared to only one in the Houston area, located in Sugar Land. Founded in November 2011, Urgent Care for Kids offers services including basic doctors visits, prescriptions, x-rays, care for breaks and sprains, stitches, various tests and shots, and other services, she said. The clinics serve children from newborns to age 18.

"We're targeting toward parents specifically, letting them know that we're [providing] quality care from pediatricians," she said. "With our business, we really focus on that quality care, short wait times, really trying to make the visit as comfortable as possible to parents. That really makes us stand out from other medical facilities."

In addition to the many services provided by the clinic, Allen said, the costs of services are cheaper than the average emergency room. She said the highest co-payment a parent is likely to pay is around $70, while co-payments can reach as high as $300-$500 for an emergency room visit.

"We wanted to come to Houston to educate people on when to go to urgent care and when to go to an ER," Allen said. "People are shocked when they go to an ER and they get a $3,000 bill."

Although only four employees will be relocated due to the headquarters relocation, Allen said, the relocation will bring dozens of jobs to the Houston area, as each clinic requires two to four full-time physicians, nurses, receptionists and x-ray technicians, among other employees.

For more information on Urgent Care for Kids, go to www.urgentcarekids.com