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With the vast range of retirees who make Florida their home (or second home), getting an appointment with a Florida doctor is often difficult. The older population tends to clog up many of the healthcare services in the state, particularly primary care. Patients many times have to wait weeks for appointments; months for specialists. Combined with the limited office hours of physicians, the 14% of residents on Medicaid and the 20% uninsured, Florida is packed with people unsure of how to properly receive timely, affordable medical care.
Instead of waiting around to schedule the next available appointment, you might consider heading to a Florida urgent care clinic. You don't need an appointment (although many centers offer them) and you can receive a range of non-emergent and primary care medical services. For example, you could get treatment for minor illnesses, such as a UTI, or you can receive preventative care, such as a flu shot or physical. Urgent care centers often feature extended hours so that you can receive treatment after work, on weekends and even most holidays.
If your illness or injuries are more severe or life threatening, however, you need to call 911 or visit the nearest emergency room. Walk-in clinics and urgent care centers, while offering immediate care and extended hours, are not equipped to handle true medical emergencies such as heart attacks, strokes or traumatic injuries. They're similar to an emergency room, but only treat minor injuries requiring, at most, stitches or resetting a broken bone.
Because it can become difficult to get in to see your doctor in many cases, walk-in clinics and urgent care centers are a great alternative for Florida residents, but make sure you know your full options.
The price charged at an urgent care, whether in Florida or elsewhere, will be based on the location, and there are no actual standard costs between the clinics. Assuming you are paying with cash, you might come across an urgent clinic that charges you $50 while another situated some mile away charges you $100 for the same services. The standard cost in urgent care where insurance cover is not involved ranges from $100 to $125. This price is generally the standard price of a visit before extra services. There are a couple of additional care services that could make your appointment to an urgent care costly including x-rays and lab tests, medications and injections (such as immunization), casting broken bones, as well as stitches and splints. If you have a viable insurance plan in place, the standard pay will be between $20 – 50 depending on your insurance coverage and whether you are in contact with the provider.
Most primary care doctor offices are open during routine work hours, Monday thru Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Conversely, most of the urgent care centers in Florida are available after hours, on weekends, and many holidays. Typical urgent care hours are 8:00 am to 8:00 pm daily, although location-specific hours may vary.
Historically, urgent care centers were strictly an on-demand, walk-in healthcare service mode. More recently, as consumer behaviors and expectations have evolved, many urgent care clinics have begun offering book ahead visits, allowing consumers to select a same-day or next-day time that works best for their schedule. Use Solv to find a Florida urgent care center that offers advanced bookings (or appointments) and book online.
Solv allows Florida residents and visitors to book urgent care visits online with just a few taps. Same-day and next-day visit times are generally available, and you can search for real-time availability clinics.
Solv allows you to find any of the urgent care and walk-in clinics in Florida, many of which accept most major commercial insurances. Just browse the clinics page to see if your carrier and plan is listed. If you are still unsure, it is best to contact the urgent care center directly for clarification.
Many urgent care centers, including those in Florida, now offer virtual visits or telemedicine for residents and visitors throughout the state. Virtual urgent care visits are generally booked online whether in advance or on-demand. Clinics that do offer virtual care have a video icon on their profiles.
While it would be easy to provide a list of urgent care centers in and around Florida, 'best' is a challenging term to qualify. For some consumers, that could mean the closest location whereas other people may prioritize patient reviews, service costs, availability, or whether or not the provider accepts their insurance. With the list of locations above, use the filters provided to narrow the results to find the best urgent care for your needs.
Urgent care is available to assist patients that are looking for immediate, convenient medical care. In that manner, they are similar to an emergency room. The difference, however, is that ERs are meant to treat major, life-threatening injuries and illnesses while urgent care centers manage life’s minor bruises and bumps. In simple terms, an urgent care is seen as a walk-in health center that focuses in offering non-emergent health care conditions, including the treatment of the typical illnesses and injuries such as fractures and sprains, cuts and burns, scrapes, stings and bites, flu and cold symptoms, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, and much more. Most urgent care facilities offer both diagnostic and preventive care such as well visits, immunizations, STD testing and annual physicals. For regular visits and check-ups on these clinics, you should expect to pay between $20 and $100. The good thing is that most urgent care clinics will accept major PPOs and insurance cover, Medicare, as well as self-pay in the form of credit cards or cash. Urgent care clinics are located in most parts of the country in various regions to offset emergency room visits and provide a gap in healthcare services. They take patients during all hours of operations, which offer a significant convenience to most people who have and continue to undergo the need for sudden and immediate medical attention.
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