The differences between urgent care and the emergency room may seem small but they are significant. Medical services offered, visit costs, and dealings with insurance all change based on whether you’re visiting an urgent care center or an ER. Learning the details of each facility will make your decision easier during sickness or injury. Take a moment or two to discover when to go to urgent care vs. emergency room.
Deciding Between 24-Hour Urgent Care Near Me and the Hospital
Urgent Care
Visit a 24 hour urgent care for less “threatening” conditions. For those times when you can’t see your regular doctor, urgent care is a good solution. Statcare Urgent Care locations stay open during nights, weekends, and holidays to offer medical services outside of your regular doctor’s hours. An urgent care can assist with all routine medical care intended to diagnose, treat, cure an illness and prescribe a medication approved and evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). They can also perform blood tests and treat injuries like broken fingers and arms. Statcare’s doctors can stitch up minor cuts, treat earaches, and headaches. They can also see kids and perform health exams for women.
In general, urgent care services do not include operating rooms or other highly advanced medical equipment found in emergency hospitals. Therefore, they should not be used if you have a severe medical concern that requires surgery. Still, urgent care facilities often contain essential medical tools, such as X-rays and standard lab tests. These can help diagnose or treat your immediate medical concerns quickly. Urgent care is a very efficient way of getting immediate medical attention. It also offers far more resources than your primary care physician. An urgent care clinic can provide IV therapy fluids, IV treatment antibiotics, X-rays, blood tests, give medication refills, and give vaccines for animal bites and injuries.
Hospitals
Emergency rooms are ideal for critical illnesses and injuries. Open 24 hours and 7 days a week, emergency rooms take care of the more critical conditions, such as heart attacks, strokes, a broken back, or a head injury. The typical tools found in emergency rooms include: CAT scans, MRIs, radiology labs, and ultrasounds. In addition, ERs also have operating rooms and highly certified doctors in different sectors to help treat, cure or prevent any disease. For example, an obstetrician delivers babies and a cardiologist studies the heart. Unlike urgent care, if a patient needs to stay overnight and beds and rooms are made available.
Cost Differences Between Urgent Care and an Emergency Room
According to healthcare.gov, “fixing a broken leg can cost up to $7,500.” The average cost of a 3-day hospital stay is around $30,000. Certain insurance plans may cover some of the cost. However, the out-of-pocket expenses can put a dent in your wallet. Typically, the out-of-pocket maximum for policyholders averages around $7,000. Although that’s better than paying a $37,500 bill, a $7,000 expense can be a major challenge financially. These costs become even more difficult for those without medical insurance. Call your insurance and know what you will pay for an emergency room visit. Ultimately, it’s in your best interest financially to go to an urgent care before an emergency hospital if your condition allows you to.
Insurance Plans We Accept
To help our patients, Statcare urgent care accepts most insurances including:
MetroPlus
Medicare
Fidelis Obamacare
Affinity
HIP
GHI
HealthFirst
Emblem Health
Aetna
Blue Cross Blue Shield
Oxford
United Healthcare
Vytra
Cigna
1199 National Benefit Fund
MagnaCare
Medicaid Managed Care Plans
straight Medicaid
and others
For those without insurance, Statcare urgent care has transparent and reasonable costs-fees. Statcare accepts cash, along with all major debit and credit cards from patients who want to pay for their medical care.
The Cost Of An E.R. Visit Vs. Urgent Care
The average urgent care visit costs around $150 whereas an ER visit costs $750. If cost is a major concern for you or your family, urgent care is a better choice for you as insurance co-pays tend to be quite less for urgent care than the emergency room. This number goes down even more if you use Statcare Telemedicine services. Through our online doctor, you can get immediate attention, diagnosis and a prescription all from the convenience of your home, hotel, apartment, or workplace.
Dr. Evans (Emergency Medicine MD), says, “trust your gut,” adding, “if your personal instinct or your motherly intuition tells you it’s serious, don’t hesitate — go to the nearest emergency room.” Serious symptoms that you should go to the ER for include: slurred speech and trouble breathing, weakness/numbness on one side, chest pain, seizures, serious burns, and other conditions listed on Mayoclinic.org. If you need iv fluids at home near me, it is best to go to the ER especially if dehydration is severe.
For lesser issues (or ones that you intuitively feel aren’t emergencies) visit a 24-hour urgent care near me. Symptoms you can get checked out at urgent care include: fever and flu symptoms, headaches, mild asthma, minor cuts, burns and sprains, coughs, sore throats or colds, urinary tract infections, back and joint pain, and animal bites. Doctors at urgent care have the knowledge and tools to handle a wide variety of medical problems in children and adults..
Urgent Care Does Not Include Beds for an Overnight Stay
Unlike urgent care, emergency rooms have space and proper equipment to keep patients overnight after a medical emergency. ERs handle surgical procedures, trauma, CAT Scans, and any other life-threatening situation. Therefore, they also offer hospital rooms for their patients. Although some urgent care facilities offer 24-hour service and extended hours, they do not provide rooms for patients for overnight stays. Certain hospitals (such as Tri-City Medical Center) offer emergency rooms for psychological care as well. Try to decide whether you think your medical concern will require an overnight stay. If so, then you might just want to seek treatment at an ER.
What Should I Choose–Urgent Care Or Emergency Room?
As Dr. Evans mentioned, when it comes down to it, you may intuitively know whether your illness or injury needs acute care. Listen to your body. Try to note whether the pain is persistent or if it’s improving over time. Don’t rely on online forums to help diagnose yourself. Try to get to a doctor as soon as possible. If you aren’t sure, call an urgent care and ask if they can treat your particular issue. Remember, you can always go to an emergency room from urgent care. But, it will save you money to see an urgent care doctor if you do not need emergency services.
Costs; E.R. Vs. Urgent Care
According to debt.org, “70 percent of patients at urgent care centers use health insurance and their only cost is a co-pay.” Typically, urgent care visits range from $50 to $150, depending on the level of treatment and the patient’s copay. Comparatively, debt.org states that in 2013, the “National Institute of Health study put the median cost [of hospital treatment] at $1,233,” adding that “other estimates pushed it to as high as $2,168.” In the end, it’s better for you to try seeing an urgent care doctor if you can.
Final Thoughts
Don’t avoid the ER if you’re seriously hurt or ill. However, it’s in your best interest to figure out whether you’re in sincere need of emergency services or if you can get help at urgent care. Lastly, it’s important to note that in the ER, wait times change depending on the severity of a condition of patients continuously being brought in to the ER by ambulances, while urgent care serves on a first come first serve basis. Also, most ER wait times advertised by hospitals on highway billboards are registration times. They would not reflect the actual time it will take for you to be seen by the emergency medical doctor. With all this in mind, you should now feel more confident in knowing what service to choose: the emergency hospital or urgent care.
