Over the last several years, there has been a big change in the medical landscape: Providers have been moving from the once-traditional office system to operating urgent care clinics. There are several reasons for this change, and these factors are likely to remain in place for the foreseeable future.
Urgent Care is Convenient
Everyone loves convenience, and this is especially true when they’re not feeling their best. Waiting for standard doctor’s appointments can take days or even weeks, but spending hours in the ER for “faster” service is no real solution. The true solution to this dilemma is a well-timed visit to an urgent care clinic.
At an urgent care clinic, wait times are typically short. Patients who time it right can be in and out within minutes if no diagnostics are involved, while those who come during busy periods may wait an hour or two. Either way, it beats the ER, where one may have to wait for five hours or more due to the triage system of patient prioritization.
Urgent Care Clinics Have Better Hours
For years, people who have needed medical care outside of a narrow window of hours have had to either wait entire days for regular doctors to open or pay the extreme premium in cost and time for ER service. This problem is reduced or even eliminated with urgent care. There is even a 24 hour walk in clinic in Harlingen, TX! Never again will people in that area have to suffer through to morning or pay hundreds of dollars just because they forgot to get a prescription refill order from their regular provider before 3 PM or happened to have a mishap on a Saturday night.
The Emergency Room Costs Too Much
Since emergency rooms are set up to handle truly life-threatening situations like heart attacks, chainsawed limbs, and similar events, they are equipped with some of the most expensive medical equipment and personnel in existence. These costs must be passed on to all who enter. Health insurance companies have been making customers pay higher out-of-pocket costs for ER visits specifically because of this.
It is Often Possible to See the Same Doctor on Repeat Urgent Care Visits
While not all urgent care centers offer this, it is often possible to see the same doctor over and over with a bit of planning. Some centers only have one or two doctors per location, which makes this easy to do, while others offer appointments. Either way, it’s a good idea to ask a 24 hour walk in medical clinic basalt co about this option if it is of interest to you.
As this shows, there are many advantages to urgent care over both hospital emergency rooms and standard doctor’s offices. It’s no wonder they are growing in popularity!