About Urgent Care
These days, it can feel like your health care options are pretty limited. You can go to the emergency room (ER) when you’re sick or injured, but that can cost you a lot of time and money. In fact, research shows that up to 84% of people who go to the ER don’t have true medical emergencies, and may pay up to six times more than necessary.
If you have a primary care physician, you can wait days or weeks to get an appointment, and you run the risk of your condition getting worse and requiring more complex – and more expensive – treatment.
Expanding your care options
Urgent care – also known as immediate care or walk-in medical care – expands the health care options of your primary care doctor, the ER, and retail health clinics. Urgent care can also serve to bridge the gap between these options. Most urgent care facilities offer experienced medical providers, extended hours, and walk-in service.
Range of capabilities and services
Urgent care facilities can range in scope, reach, and capabilities, but as the practice of urgent care has grown, more and more urgent care locations are providing expanded services for adults and children, including:
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When considering an urgent care provider, you should call the facility or review its Web site to see what services they do or don’t offer.
Making health care affordable
Facing an urgent illness or injury shouldn’t automatically create a financial burden for a patient or the patient’s family. You can benefit from significant cost savings using an urgent care facility versus a hospital ER – without sacrificing quality of care.
- Better value than Emergency Rooms — A recent study shows ER costs are 686% higher for the same quality of medical care received at an urgent care facility.
- Potential for lower co-payments — Many insurance companies have an urgent care or primary care co-payment that is substantially lower than the ER co-payment.
These days, you do have more options. And urgent care may be your very best choice for quality medical care at a reasonable price.
Urgent Care Clinicians
Urgent care facilities typically include a combination of:
- Physicians board-certified in
- Emergency Medicine
- Family Practice
- Occupational / Preventive
- Certified physician assistants
- Nurse practitioners
Call the facility you choose and ask about their clinicians.
"All of this took place in a facility that can only be described as spotless and comfortable. This was truly the best experience I have ever had in an urgent care situation..."
— Matt, CO
