All too often Americans are faced with a non life threatening condition, that nonetheless needs to be dealt with urgently. Normally, you would call your doctor. However, it may be impossible to get an appointment in time. With no other option, you are forced to go to the emergency room. Though emergency rooms are designed to deal with serious medical emergencies on a walk in basis, the over flow of patients who need medical care for non life threatening injuries, has lead to steep increase in costs and wait times at many emergency room facilities across the country.
For too long the American medical system functioned like this. Fortunately, now there is another choice: urgent care facilities. An urgent care facility provides medical care on a walk in basis, just like at the emergency room. However, urgent care facilities are designed exclusively to deal with non life threatening conditions. This means that the waiting times at urgent care facilities are considerably shorter. In fact, most patients are seen within 20 minutes. A visit to an urgent care facility is also likely to be 40% to 50% less expensive than a trip to the emergency room in the United States.
Do not think that this means urgent care facilities are unable to provide quality medical care. On the contrary, just like at an emergency room, urgent care facilities are staffed by medical professionals. Many urgent care centers can perform routine blood work, flu shots, x rays, and physical exams. Some urgent care facilities can even fill prescriptions.
Next time you are faced with a non life threatening injury, or even just need a flu shot, consider an urgent care facility. To find an urgent care facility near you, look online or in the yellow pages. Read more here.