Urgent care services are provided by facilities that operate like hospitals and emergency rooms. However, these type of facilities offer their services to people who suffer from illnesses or conditions that are not life threatening such as chronic pain, diabetes and arthritis among others. You can’t therefore take a patient that has been shot with a bullet or has suffered a heart attack to such a facility. Rather, if you have strep throat and need to see a doctor fast, an urgent care center is the place to go. In fact, nowadays there are more urgent care centers than hospitals and emergency rooms. However, most people still prefer going to the hospital because they are not aware of the benefits of seeking health from an urgent care facility. Here is a list of reasons why you should an urgent care facility the first facility when you are not feeling well.
1. 24/7 Service Delivery
The first urgent care centers only operated during the day, probably because they were understaffed. Nowadays you can walk into any urgent care facility at any time of the day and get treated. This is because these facilities have many employees that work in shifts to ensure that patients get treated right away after entering either of the centers. With government hospitals, you may have to wait for many hours, especially on weekends because most of their staff are off duty. You will actually have to wait in long queues. When you seek treatment from an urgent care, the longest you can be kept waiting is about 15 minutes.
2. More Accessible
If you don’t live in a city, you might have to travel for many hours by road to get medical attention. And if the city is far from your home, you might have to budget for accommodation because you may not be able to return on the same day. Urgent care centers therefore offer some kind of a relief to those who reside far from urban centers. In fact, you can use the internet to find an urgent care near you. This saves you from the trouble of having to commute or spend a lot of money on fueling your car.
3. Affordable Rates
Anyone who has ever sought for treatment in a hospital or an emergency room will agree that they are very expensive when compared with the rates that are usually charged by urgent care facilities. Hospitals are actually overrated. Unless it’s a life threatening situation, you can get treated in an urgent care center for much less money. Fortunately, unlike hospitals and emergency rooms, urgent care will not bill you for bed rent, doctor’s fee or any other hidden cost. They simply use a flat rate charge. Those who have medical insurance even pay much less because a larger percentage of the bill is catered for by their insurance provider.
4. High Quality Services
Since hospitals are usually overwhelmed by the number of patients that are waiting to be served, they sometimes compromise on the quality of healthcare services. In fact, every patient has to book an appointment in advance or he will not be attended to. The experience is much different when you visit an urgent care facility. The staff takes pride in getting to know their patients by developing a working relationship with them. This makes you feel you are with someone who cares about your well being but not your money. They will actually treat you regardless of whether you had booked an appointment or not.
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