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Emergency rooms are the most expensive way for people to receive medical care. While it's difficult to determine exactly how much money patients could save by using urgent care centers instead of ERs, the numbers show that, in some cases, an ER can cost ten times as much as using an urgent care center. This is a serious concern for Pennsylvanians.
About 16 percent of people in Pennsylvania live below the poverty line. That might sound bad, but it gets even worse when one looks at individual cities. More than 40 percent of residents in Reading, PA live below the poverty level, earning it the unfortunate distinction as one of America's poorest cities. Such a high rate of poverty makes it nearly impossible for people to place an emphasis on preventative health. When a family has difficulty paying for food, nutrition, physical activity and immunizations become distant concerns.
After living with sickness for weeks or months, a person eventually has to visit the emergency room for treatment. Since the ER cannot turn them away, many of those high-priced services get passed on to taxpayers. Those preventable health conditions also clog emergency rooms.
Giving communities access to urgent care centers could significantly lower the number of unnecessary ER visits, even in poor towns like Reading. Pennsylvania urgent care centers charge lower rates than emergency rooms, but they offer comparable services to people who need basic medical treatment. In fact, recent studies have shown that as much as 50 percent of the conditions treated at emergency rooms could be handled less expensively at urgent care centers. That said, if your condition is life threatening, it is important to call 911 or visit your closest emergency room.
To assist with minor injuries and illnesses, as well as the preventative health topics and immunizations discussed previously, Pennsylvania residents also have a number of other walk-in clinic options available to them. Retail clinics, while not offering on-site physicians or x-ray and other diagnostic services, are excellent solutions minor healthcare needs. You can typically find them inside pharmacies like Walgreens or CVS or even large retail stores like Walmart or even grocery stores. They are generally less expensive than an urgent care and offer similar hours.
Additionally, Pennsylvania has a number of walk-in community clinics offering discounts to low-income families, and sometimes even feature free services, such as vaccinations.
The price charged at an urgent care, whether in Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania urgent care center that offers advanced bookings (or appointments) and book online.
Solv allows Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania, 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 Pennsylvania, 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 Pennsylvania, '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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