Can You Make an Appointment at Urgent Care?
If you or your child have symptoms that are acute enough to seek immediate care but not so severe that you...
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Convenience is everything these days, particularly for parents with young kids. In a world where ‘next day shipping’ is being trumped with ‘same day shipping’, who would want to wait several weeks to get into your pediatrician or primary care physician? Enter walk-in clinics, which fall under many different sub-categories including urgent care, pediatric urgent care, retail clinics and more. These convenient care locations offer same day access to qualified pediatric providers diagnosing and treating dozens of minor injuries and illnesses specifically for children up to 18 years of age. If you’ve asked yourself, “where is there an walk-in clinic near me?,” you’ve come to the right place.
When you need urgent care for kids, the last thing you want to do is drive to a nearby urgent care only to find it is closed, or so packed with adult patients that it's not a good fit for your young ones. Such a frustrating waste of time. Instead, you want to find a pediatric urgent care open now. Sometimes "open now" is more important how close the location is, or even if it has great patient reviews or now. All you’re after could be a quick diagnosis and prescription so you can be on your way. Based on your location, filter this list of pediatric urgent care centers that are open now. The most relevant, closest and highest rated are automatically listed first for your convenience.
In a recent survey conducted with the Urgent Care Association, Solv found that patients were waiting an average of 24 days for appointments with their primary care provider. In a world of instant gratification, consumers demand more. They demand now. If you want to watch a movie, you download it in minutes or stream it instantly. If you need groceries, you can pick up your phone and have them delivered to you within the hour. If you need restaurant reservations, you find one with availability, book online, walk in minutes later and sit right down. Healthcare shouldn’t be any different.
That’s why pediatric urgent care has been growing at a faster pace than any other healthcare service in the United States. And it is why healthcare consumers search for “urgent care” more than 5x more than “primary care” or “family doctor,” combined. These consumers are highly actionable, searching with high intent terms like “urgent care near me.” They want same day access to quality healthcare providers when they are sick or injured - after hours, one weekends and on holidays - without the cost and inconvenience of the emergency room.
Urgent care centers typically treat minor illnesses like the flu, sinus infections and strep throat, as well as injuries like bone fractures and sprains, cuts, scrapes and burns, making these clinics ideal for diagnosing and treating non-emergent healthcare needs. And at a growing rate urgent care clinics are offering preventative care services including annual physicals and well visits, flu shots and other immunizations and vaccines, taking on the role of primary care provider for the tens of millions of consumers that don’t have one.
For kids there are special pediatric urgent care centers, usually open after hours for patients between the ages of 1 and 18.
Urgent care centers, which are part of the walk-in clinic healthcare category, are a convenient resource for consumers needing treatment for minor illnesses and injuries. Services that you would normally receive at your primary care office are usually available at an urgent care including annual and school physicals, flu shots and immunizations, treatment for illnesses including colds, flu stomach pains, sinus and ear infections and more. You can also be seen for injuries such as burns, bites, sprains and breaks - things that you might first thing to go to the emergency room vs urgent care, but you’ll have a shorter wait and smaller bill at the urgent care. As for cost, without insurance, you should expect between $100-140 for your visit, plus the cost of any labs, tests or images. With insurance, urgent care will be similar to seeing a specialist with applicable co-pay.
Nearly all urgent care centers take commercial insurance and many (if not most) will take medicare. As such if you have insurance coverage, you can expect the financial experience to be similar to visiting a specialist where you have a co-pay, usually $35-50, due at the time of the visit. Any additional lab work, x-rays or other tests performed will be billed against your insurance first and any supplemental balance due will be invoiced to you after the fact. Without insurance, you’ll pay a visit fee between $100-140 at the time of your visit. This is typically 25-50% more than your primary care provider, but usually the convenience is well worth the additional cost. If you are interested in a telehealth or video visit, your cost could be as much as 50% less than an urgent care, you could be diagnosed and prescribed medication and you’ll never have to leave your home.
Every urgent care center - even those part of the same group or brand - may have different hours. While they are meant to be conveniently accessible during times when your primary care provider is not, that’s subjective and highly variable. A traditional formula, however, is that an urgent care is open 6 to 7 days a week usually between the hours of 8 am to 8 pm. That could shift to nearly any 8-12 hour period between 7 am and 10 pm. You’ll even find some clinics open 24 hours a day, similar to an emergency room. As for wait time, most patients report waiting between 15-45 minutes on average, but that can certainly vary, as well. It’s usually best to find an urgent care near you to either confirm the hours online, or call the clinic directly to verify. Or, you can book a same day doctor appointment online with Solv.
The cost of urgent care ranges between $75 and $150, depending on the location of a facility. Of course, this applies only to cash-paying patients. The quality and standards of healthcare remain the same across the board though. However, most facilities will charge between $100 and $125 for treatments without an insurance cover. Do note, however, that this is the base price for the basic services offered by urgent care clinics. It does not include additional services like medication and immunization injections, lab tests, and X-rays. Stitches, sprains and broken bones will also add to the cost of urgent care. Even patients with an insurance cover will have to make co-payments as opposed to having all the costs billed to their insurer. Normally, the payments will range from $20-50, depending on a patient’s plan and whether they are in network with the provider.
Insurance companies determine to cover or not to cover urgent care costs. A patient’s insurance provider may not cover the costs. In that case, the urgent care center will accept nothing except cash. However, in most cases, insurance companies will cover urgent care so that patients do not have to pay much with each visit to a care center. Sometimes, though very rare, an urgent care center may choose not to accept an insurance cover, even if it covers this type of care. Therefore, it is always best to call and be certain before making a trip to a care center.
You may be worried that your toddler is getting sick more often than they used to, but that is not the case. The truth is that children will get sick, especially once they begin school and their immune systems are exposed to health conditions that exist in crowded environments. These conditions may range from common colds, flu, strep throat, ear and sinus infections, pink eye and pneumonia, all of which can be got rid of with a quick trip to pediatric urgent care clinic near you. Pediatric urgent care clinics can also treat stings and bug bites, allergic reactions, cuts and burns, swallowed objects, sprains, and broken bones and many other conditions as well as injuries.
The real difference between a pediatric urgent care facility and an emergency room is in the patient experience. A typical emergency room wait time is nearly two and a half hours. With a pediatric urgent care, however, the patient will receive treatment in 15-45 minutes.
Another fundamental difference between an urgent care facility and an emergency room is the cost. Normally, the former will cost just a fraction of what the latter will do. However, in the case of a serious health emergency, patients should visit an emergency room as opposed to an urgent care facility. This is because urgent care facilities are only designed for non-emergent and minor illnesses as well as injuries.
Pediatric urgent care is simply urgent care performed in an environment designed specifically for kids and by staff trained in pediatric medicine so you can ensure you child is comfortable and well cared for. Additionally, a pediatric urgent care is typically open when a child's pediatrician office is closed—nights, weekends, holidays—where regular urgent care centers are open during the day, commonly 8am to 8pm daily. For additional details, read here.
Pediatric urgent care operators generally complement regular pediatricians, most of whom are open within typical business hours (e.g. from 9 am - 5 pm Monday to Friday). These healthcare professionals help with those late night child emergencies that would otherwise require a trip to the emergency room. Pediatric urgent care facilities treat both minor and severe health conditions in children. They are typically open until midnight and throughout the weekend even when regular pedestrians are closed. These children's doctors, without doubt, save parents the unnecessary and painful trips to the emergency room.
There are many ways to keep children healthy and avoid health problems and emergencies. Simple things such as washing hands, proper hydration and getting enough sleep can go a very long way in ensuring children are healthy. Eating well-balanced diets, managing stress, getting the necessary immunizations and avoiding smokers are great ways for toddlers to avert many conditions.
Updated on Oct 25, 2024
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