Next Care Urgent Care Clinic Visit are Less Expensive Than ER Visits

You knew it was a bad idea the second she asked. Against your better judgement though you allowed your daughter to go to the park to try her friend’s new pogo stick. Pogo stick? Who does that any more? Wasn’t that a toy that saw its day some 30 years ago? This pogo stick, however, was powered and your 14 year old daughter could not resist the invitation to go give it a try. Her bike helmet that she willingly took along protected her head, but did not cushion her arm when she fell hard on the blacktop 30 minutes later. She tried to tell you it was nothing, but the pale, clammy look on her face signaled something else. Erasing the option of an emergency room visit to avoid the cost, you fortunately decided that a trip to next care urgent care location was a better choice. A quick xray showed deep bruising, but no break, and with a prescription for a mild pain reliever you were on your way back home before her brothers even knew she was gone.
A pediatric urgent care is often the best decision when you are trying to get a quick, but qualified, medical evaluation. Especially when a regular doctor’s office is often full of patients with the latest flue and virus systems, doesn’t it make sense to go to a next care urgent care environment where your waiting room time is kept to a minimum? Approximately 60% of all urgent care centers have a wait time of less than 15 minutes to see a physician or other mid-level provider; 65% of those same centers have a physician on-site at all times. In the case of a possible broken bone, 80% of all urgent care centers provide fracture care.
Unfortunately, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost half of all adult emergency room patients who were not sick enough to be admitted to the hospital sought treatment at the ER because their regular physicians? offices were closed. Much more expensive than the next care urgent care option, an ER visit often also means hours of waiting. In a large hospital ER setting, patients are prioritized when it comes to seeing a doctor. Since many real emergencies are often brought in, a patient can find himself or herself waiting much longer than you might imagine.
The next time you find yourself in a situation where you or someone in your family needs to unexpectedly see a doctor, make sure you make the smart choice and visit the closed urgent care facility. It will save you money and time, while still giving you quality healthcare.