With regards to urgent medical care, there are emergency rooms (ERs) and urgent care centers which provide assistance to individuals in need. That said, these facilities tend to operate separately as that is how the health sector is structured. For Legacy, we are both an Urgent Care and an Emergency Room under one roof. In an effort to make healthcare services more accessible to all and to provide urgent medical care services to all, we strive to maintain this health model. Unfortunately, the healthcare sector has not followed suit with combining facilities, but keep reading below for some facts regarding the benefits of this plan.

Urgent Medical Care Centers: Everything You Need to Know

1. The urgent care market may be broken, but with innovative ideas like combining facilities, it can be fixed!

Typically, people have to choose whether to go to an urgent care center or an emergency room when they are in need of urgent medical care. This is a problem, because an individual might go to one center and actually need the services of another, and are forced to visit two separate medical care facilities. Consider the main issue at hand, which is that the urgent care center market is highly fragmented. Most of the facility operators of urgent medical care centers own fewer than three facilities and are unable to obtain a dominant hold on the market. These issues combined, create major difficulties for sick individuals as there is no clear plan for care. Use our facilities as an example and consider the idea of combining facilities into one great location for all types of care.

2. It can be difficult for people to know what type of facility they need for their health issues, so combining everything in one place will simplify the process!

When a person feels that they are very sick, they may look for medical assistance at an emergency room to take care of them. That said, given that they only feel sick and are not in imminent danger, they would be better served at an urgent care center. The reverse of this is true as well. For example, consider a recent study which shows that while 44% to 65% of all ER episodes could have been treated at urgent care facilities, there are certain times when it’s much better for an individual to seek out medical treatment at the ER. If we were to combine ER and urgent care centers together, not only would it be more convenient care for individuals but emergency centers would be more efficient.

3. Emergency room visits are a major part of the problem, as people continually use emergency room medical centers for non-emergency related issues.

When it comes to ER and urgent care visits like ours, we strive to provide high-quality er care without the wait. That said, people often get overwhelmed when choosing a proper care facility. Consider individuals who tend to visit emergency rooms for nonemergent issues. This costs individuals and health centers more money than necessary. More than 70% of ER visits for patients with consumer-sponsored insurance coverage are for non-emergency issues (and/or preventable conditions). To fix this issue, combining ER and urgent care facilities into one location can help people get the exact care they need in one convenient location all while accessing er care without the wait!

If you found these tips helpful, then consider putting some work into attempting to create more facilities like ours. The idea of combining facilities has proven successful (just look at Legacy) and will ensure that every person gets the best type of care possible for all your health-related needs. Second, the combination of services gives people access to better care all around. Lastly, combining urgent care centers can help people to save money by getting them the help they need for less of a cost! All in all, be sure to take the aforementioned information into consideration in order to protect not only individuals but also health centers!