Urgent Care Centers Providing Quality Medical Care at a Fraction of the Cost

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducted a study on traditional hospital emergency room visits. The results showed that nearly half of the adult patients weren’t sufficiently ill to be admitted to the hospital. These patients reported that they sought medical care at the emergency room because their regular physician’s office was closed.

A study conducted by the Rand Corporation in 2010 showed that approximately 1 out of every 5 hospital emergency room visits could have been handled at an urgent care center instead. If more individuals visited urgent care facilities as opposed to hospital emergency rooms, it could potentially save $4.4 billion every year in health costs.


On a weekly basis, however, roughly 3 million individuals do visit urgent care clinics for a variety of medical concerns. These include colds, flus, and other issues that benefit from medical care. Children, for example, catch an average of 6 to 10 colds every year. When combined with the adult population, people in the United States come down with about a billion colds every year. Throughout the year, an average of 5% to 20% of Americans also get the flu.

The costs associated with urgent care clinic visits are considerably less than with typical hospital emergency room visits. An average urgent care visit, for example, might cost less than $150.00, while a visit to the hospital emergency room for the same issue will cost an average of $1,500.00.

Currently, there are around 6,800 urgent care centers located in the United States. Most of these are also housed in freestanding buildings, which makes them easy to locate and access.

Approximately 66% of these centers have a mixture of staff. This includes physicians, nurse practitioners, and/or physician assistants. Many of these centers, or about 65%, always have 1 or more physicians on-site during their hours of operation.

There is also considerably less wait time at an urgent care clinic. When The Urgent Care Association of America conducted a recent survey, the results showed that 57% of the patients only needed to wait 15 minutes at most for an appointment. Another benefit of visiting an urgent care clinic is that 80% of these visits lasted for an hour or less.

Given the broad range of services available, patients can receive the medical care they need at an urgent care clinic as opposed to a traditional hospital emergency room. When issues aren’t life-threatening, it makes sense to visit an urgent care facility instead. In addition to less waiting time, lower costs, and access to experienced practitioners, urgent care facilities can fulfill the growing need for quality medical care.