Today, 24 hour urgent care has grown to be a significant force in America’s healthcare system indicating a paradigm shift from the traditional primary care services. so what exactly is an urgent care walk in clinic and what kind of services do these facilities provide? Ideally, urgent cares are meant to provide medical services for medical conditions that are not life threatening but still needs urgent medical care. This is perhaps the reason why urgent care clinic are strategically located in places where there is ease of access and convenient for everyone. The use of urgent cares has had a major impact in terms of health service delivery as these facilities have become a better alternative to emergency rooms. Below are some of the reasons why most patients prefer an urgent care clinic.

Shorter Waits
I most hospital emergency rooms, the situation is always that there are long queues of people waiting to be attended. This translates to a longer wait time to be attended. In sharp contrast, emergency cares are characterized by very short wait times. It takes at most 15 minutes for a patient to receive urgent care treatment. This is one of the major reasons why people prefer urgent care facilities compared to hospitals. This means that patients in hospitals have to wait for the doctor for long hours while experiencing some form of discomfort or they are in pain. If there is an alternative, people will no doubt seek faster medical services found in urgent care clinics.

Saves Money
Another major benefit of urgent cares is that they are less expensive compared to the charges in hospitals. This means that the services are affordable and most people can still be able to access quality healthcare services even when on a budget. Urgent care clinics also make sure that they give you a one-time billing thereby eliminating additional billing from outside companies and insurers. If you receive treatment in a hospital and you don’t have insurance, then chances are that you will end up spending more on hospital fees and emergency care cost. Some advanced procedures in urgent care clinics are also less expensive compared to the same procedures in a hospital emergency room. Having to wait for long to access these services and yet pay more is the reason why patients would rather walk into an urgent care center and seek the same services at an affordable price.

Convenience and Accessibility
Most people today are looking for two things in healthcare delivery, how convenient service delivery is and how accessible the facility is. These two qualities are what make urgent care clinics the preferred care providers based on the fact that you don’t have to make an appointment before receiving medical care in an urgent care facility. These facilities are basically walk-in-walk-out type of facilities. In a hospital, you have to make an appointment and confirm the doctor’s availability before you can receive medical care. In addition, urgent cares are strategically located in order to improve ease of access to these facilities. The close location of urgent care facilities is an advantage to patients as you will not have to travel long distances before you can receive medical care. Ideally, you can hardly walk two blocks before coming across an urgent care clinic.