When you’re not feeling well, even though you know that you need help, you sometimes still don’t want to hassle with finding healthcare. Trying to locate a doctor to see you or sitting in a hospital emergency room among other sick people, often for long periods of time before you’re finally seen for treatment, is exhausting and can make you feel even worse. However, neither of those things should stop you from getting the care that you need to recover in a safe and timely manner. An easier, less stressful way to obtain treatment does exist.
If you’ve hurt yourself and need stitches, need treatment for the flu, or have some other minor injury or illness, an urgent care facility can take care of you. If you need a physical for work or to participate in a sport, or need immunizations, an urgent care facility can provide those services. These types of facilities can also perform x-rays and certain types of routine lab tests to help diagnose your problems.
Although urgent care centers have been available for years, many people still aren’t familiar with exactly what they are and how they differ from other types of facilities. An urgent care center is a walk-in clinic, which means that no appointments are necessary. These centers treat injuries and illnesses requiring care, but that are not serious enough to actually need hospital emergency room treatment. Urgent care centers have been open and available to the public for decades, but haven’t drawn a lot of consumer interest until recently. Many of these facilities were originally started by emergency medicine physicians as a way to provide people with easier access to the care that they need.
Quick Care
Because there’s no need for an appointment, you can simply walk into an urgent care center when it’s convenient for you. No more searching to find a doctor if you don’t already have one. Even if you do have a regular doctor, with an urgent care center, there’s no waiting to get an appointment or waiting for your doctor to return from vacation. If you’re used to waiting for hours in a hospital emergency room, or if the nearest hospital is too far away, a nearby urgent care facility is your best option to get treatment quickly. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the median wait time for treatment in an emergency room is about 30 minutes, and the median treatment time is slightly more than 90 minutes, which makes the total average wait time more than 2 hours. The Urgent Care Association of America states that at 84% of urgent care centers, the total patient throughput is 60 minutes or less.
Extended Hours
How often have you needed a doctor, looked at the time of the day and realized that it’s not office hours? Urgent care facilities have solved this problem. They are open after 5 PM on weekdays and are open on the weekends too. The centers are also open on certain, specified holidays to offer the greatest convenience for patients. No more suffering over the weekend from an earache or a urinary tract infection, because you can’t get in to see your doctor until Monday. You can rest easy knowing that care is available when you need it.
Affordable Costs
Locally operated urgent care centers accept most private health insurance plans. Even if you’re not insured, the costs of tests and treatment are significantly lower than in emergency rooms. Hospitals charge higher rates to support the large amount of equipment and staff needed. In addition to charging you a facility fee, a hospital emergency department will also send a separate bill for the doctor’s fee. With urgent care clinics, you and/or your insurance company will only get one bill for the doctor’s fee, and that fee is lower than what you’d have to pay for an emergency room visit. According to Becker’s Hospital Review, “Nearly half of all visits to urgent care centers result in an average charge of less than $150 — compared to the average cost of an ER visit at $1,354.”
So if you need treatment, contact us today. Visit wordpress-90533-1029098.cloudwaysapps.com/locations for location information. vybe urgent care operates community-based urgent care clinics that provide convenient and compassionate treatment for a broad range of illnesses and injuries. We also offer on-site x-rays, lab tests, vaccinations, and injections. We are redefining walk-in healthcare for patients and their families throughout Philadelphia.
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