Most of us have spent hours and hours in the emergency room waiting room. It has probably crossed your mind that there has to be a better solution, and there is. It is time to find urgent care clinics near you.

For most of our urgent, but not life threatening, medical needs, there are 24 hour walk in clinics near by. It is becoming easier and easier to find urgent care near by because the popularity grows every day. This attractiveness may be attributed to shorter wait times, lower co-pays, customer service, and hours outside of regular doctors offices.

These 24 hr urgent care facilities allow 57% of patients to wait 15 minutes or less according to a survey conducted by The Urgent Care Association of America. They also discovered that 80% of these patients visits are under 60 minutes. This certainly makes these centers more attractive than the ER.

In addition to shorter wait times, these walk in health clinics are typically open outside your primary care office hours. A meager 29% of regular doctor’s offices have after-hours coverage services. The most popular alterhnatives are the 24 hour urgent care offices.

A third reason to find urgent care centers near you is the cost. If you take a trip to the emergency department, you are likely to rack up a bill around $1500. The average cost of a visit to your local urgent care costs under $150. Even the co-pays are less. Health insurance usually has a higher emergency room co-pay, but at urgent care you typically pay your regular PCP co-pay.

So how do you know when to find urgent care and when to take the trip to the emergency room? Urgent care centers are able to evaluate and treat acute arising conditions, for all kinds of patients. In addition, they are increasingly providing lab services, xrays and routine physicals. As a matter of fact, about one in five hospital visits could be replaced with an urgent care center visit. This 2010 study done by the Rand Corporation also found that this switch to urgent care can possibly save $4.4 billion dollars each year in health-care costs

With so many benefits to emergency walk in clinics, there are very few reasons to sit in an emergency room wating area. Now is the time to find urgent care offices near you, and research the services they offer. Everyone can receive fast, quality health care when they need it.

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