If you have spent any time in
emergency room waiting rooms, you may have resigned yourself to long wait
times, unexpected bumps backwards in line, and an exorbitantly high bill with a
large out of pocket percentage.
High quality urgent care facilities offer a different story.
Urgent care specializes in filling the gap between the life saving medicine
that the emergency room is at its best, and your primary care physician, who
may require appointments be made weeks in advance. Because urgent care clinics
are able to specialize in this niche, they are able to quickly provide
competent, high quality care.
Wait Time
An average emergency room patient will wait 2.4 hours before
they see a physician, and may be bumped to the end of the que at any moment if
another patient with more critical needs arrives. The average walk in wait time
of an urgent care clinic is approximately 15 minutes, and rarely goes longer
than 45 minutes.
Cost
The final cost for care from urgent care is typically less
than half that of equivalent emergency room care. Insurance companies are also
much more likely to cover urgent care costs than they are emergency room
expenses. Expect bill total similar to what you would pay for an appointment
with your primary care physician.
Customer Based
Experience
Because clinics are able to narrow their scope of care, they
can focus their attention on improving the total patient experience. Visit this website to find an urgent care center in San Diego and make it part of your
emergency plan.