Three Advantages of Urgent Care Facilities
It seems more certain every day that urgent care centers are popping up all over the place. Some insurance companies are even giving their clients special insurance cards to be used at an urgent care facility if they are away from home, traveling to a place on vacation or visiting family where their regular doctor might be out of reach.
In years past, if you were away from home and found yourself in a non-emergency situation, the emergency room at the closest hospital might have been the only way to go. Now, thankfully for everyone involved, that is no longer the case. Urgent care locations are much easier to locate these days and seeing a doctor when you need one has gotten a great deal easier. Here are three advantages to urgent care facilities .
1.) Shorter wait times
So many of us know what it is like to need to see a doctor when it is not a life-threatening emergency. Going to the ER and waiting for hours in the waiting room can be extremely frustrating. With urgent care, you can expect to see a doctor in usually 30 minutes or less compared to an emergency room. A recent Urgent Care Association of America found that 57% of patients wait 15 minutes or less and roughly 80% of all visits are less than an hour total.
2.) Open beyond regular hours
Your family doctor is often open during regular business hours. That usually means no nights or weekends. That is fine and convenient if your sickness or health problems occur during those times. Otherwise, you might think you are left with no other recourse but the emergency room. The good new about urgent care is that the hours for most urgent care facilities are extended. Many are open until 7:00 pm or even 9:00 pm with hours also on the weekends. More access means better care for you and your family.
3.) Lower cost for you and your insurance company
A recent comparison study showed that urgent care clinics are roughly 700% more than the same level of care that patients receive at an urgent care clinic. Depending on your insurance provider, the copays for care are much cheaper because your insurance company would prefer that you go to an urgent care facility for non-emergency care.
There are no bed rents, no, hidden doctor’s fees or other staff fees for the non-emergency care you would receive at a clinic.
