Take Charge of Your Health - Bridging the Gap - Urgent Care Centers
As medicine continues to evolve,
the locus of treatment will continue to expand.
-Joan Luise Hill, Mere Mortals
The number of Urgent Care Centers doubled between 2014 and 2024 - we are now up to about 15,000 in the US alone! Typically, Urgent Care Centers bridge the gap between Primary Care Physicians and Emergency facilities in hospitals by providing walk-in treatment for less serious medical conditions.
One issue driving the growth of Urgent Care Centers is that patients simply cannot find Primary Care Providers in their community who are accepting new patients. Many cities and towns are experiencing shortages across health care providers, whether they be primary care practitioners, specialists, nurses, or physical therapists. Another factor is that patients are able to access healthcare services faster and more conveniently by visiting an Urgent Care Center instead of calling their Primary Care Provider and waiting to secure an appointment. Urgent Care Centers are often more convenient for patients as they are open in the evening, on weekends, and during holidays when most Primary Care Physicians are “off duty.” For most private insurance plans, Urgent Care Centers typically have lower out of pocket and co-pay costs than hospital emergency departments.
By providing another pathway to care for unplanned non-life threatening medical events, Urgent Care Centers can help relieve congestion in hospital emergency rooms and enable them to focus on patients requiring more critical care. Urgent Care facilities provide a resource for ailments such as infections, colds, cuts, sprains, stomach pain, allergies, and rashes, rather than life-threatening illness or major injuries. Clinicians in Urgent Care Centers, who are generally Nurse Practitioners or Physician Assistants, can order bloodwork, x-rays, and perform other common tests that assist with diagnosis. Typically, they do not have the more sophisticated equipment needed for the diagnosis or treatment of complex illnesses, nor do they have a mandate to follow chronically ill patients.
Older patients or those with a complex medical history, whenever possible, should be seen by a consistent Primary Care Physician and/or their team of specialized providers (such as oncologists, neurologists, cardiologists…) who are trained in specific disciplines and qualified to manage serious health conditions over the long term. Seeing a patient in an Urgent Care Center in “isolation”, without knowledge of the patient’s medical history can lead to misdiagnosis or the recommendation of ineffective or inappropriate treatments and drug prescriptions. In fact, recent research has pointed to two concerning trends -- high rates of misdiagnosis and inappropriately prescribing antibiotics, steroids, and pain killers in Urgent Care Centers that caused not only confusion, but delayed necessary care for patients.
When deciding the best resource for your health care remember that Urgent Care Centers are useful for non-life threatening illnesses whereas hospital emergency departments can provide the care of specialists 24/7, with advanced diagnostic and treatment capabilities for more serious conditions such as chest pain, heart attack, stroke, head trauma, deep wounds/excessive bleeding, trouble breathing, severe abdominal pain, or changes in mental status. When your primary care doctor is unavailable and you are experiencing flu-like symptoms, ear infections, a UTI, sprains, cuts, nausea, vomiting, mild allergic reactions, dehydration, rashes and other non-emergency health care conditions, a visit to your local Urgent Care facility may be a good choice.
To increase your chances of receiving the care you need, whether it is in an Urgent Care Center, a hospital ED, or medical office, the following suggestions are always helpful to consider:
Be prepared - locate the closest Urgent Care facility, hospital/ER, and trauma center so when a health concern arises you know where to go and how to get there.
Research the Urgent Care centers and hospitals close to your home and workplace and understand their resources; which ones do you believe offer the highest quality of care and/or testing availability? Check with your physician for their advice.
If you have time, take a minute to write down your issues and concerns so you don’t forget anything during your visit when it is natural to feel anxious and scattered.
If available, recruit a support person to go with you, ask them to drive, and at the appointment request they take notes.
Ask the medical professional for clarification if you are not clear on what they are saying or what the next steps are. Don’t hesitate to ask questions.
Ask for a printed “after visit” summary so you can share the information with your Primary Care Physician.
Don’t hesitate to get a second opinion.