Many people think of the Emergency Room and Urgent Care as competing for the same title, and consequently, they assume there’s no real difference between going to one over the other. What they don’t realize is that most of the time, while they will end up getting the treatment they need at their local Emergency Room, they’re not doing their pocketbooks any favors. Knowing when it’s appropriate to seek out one or the other could save you hundreds–even thousands–each visit.
The vital difference between the two lies in what sort of medical problems they’re set up to handle. The emergency room must treat you any time of day by law, whether you’re having a heart attack or suffering from a runny nose. Therefore, they are open 24 hours a day, every day, and must maintain the operating costs and staff to meet the demand of emergency situations at any time. These requirements drive up the cost of treatment, and that cost is passed on to you, the patient, either through out-0f-pocket payment or through insurance co-payment.
The primary purpose of urgent care, however–at least ideally–is to patch up your scraped knee so you don’t have to wait three days for an appointment with your primary care physician. They don’t really have the proper facilities to treat life-threatening situations. They tend to maintain hours that are longer than regular business hours but they do not stay open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and so they don’t have the same operating costs.
But why is it in your best interest not to take your sore throat there, too? Because of the expense of treating medical emergencies, trips to the ER are extremely costly compared to urgent care. ER visits cost an average of $1200 or even more, while urgent care will typically set you back a mere $50-$100. To put it in perspective, if Americans went to urgent care instead of emergency when possible, they could save $18 billion each year. Moreover, urgent care comes out cheaper even if you’re billing insurance, and the culprit is copay costs. Emergency co-pays tend to be higher to offset the costs of the ER operations while the co-pay at urgent care tends to be much less, depending on your insurance provider.
When you factor in the “time is money” adage, urgent care could be saving you even more. Going to urgent care over the ER would result in faster care for 35% of patients. And with the thousands of urgent care centers in the country, many of whose hours compete with those of emergency, there’s no reason not to choose urgent when you can. So the next time you come down with a common cold, remember that urgent care can not only get you treated more efficiently: it will also leave a lot smaller dent in your wallet.
M.D Express Urgent Care Centers are open 7 days a week from 9 am – 9 pm to save you time and money on your everyday emergencies. Our 5 convenient locations are fully staffed and ready to treat you and your family when life happens. Come to us for help, where The Doctor is Always In!
