What are the Costs of Urgent Healthcare?

Urgent care facilities provide walk-in medical care for minor medical conditions that do not require emergency treatment. Urgent care facilities operate on a model based on efficiency, so the costs for medical care at these facilities are significantly lower than costs for similar treatments at hospital emergency rooms. Urgent care facilities are privately run, thus unlike emergency room hospitals, they are not required to be open 24 hours a day, and they can set their own business hours. Because they are privately owned businesses, they deliver medical care on a business model, but the primary advantage of this is lower costs. Urgent care facilities have all the staff on hand to handle a variety of medical concerns and appointments are not necessary to see a physician.

Will They Accept My Insurance?

Because urgent care facilities are operated in order to be cost effective, they try as much as possible to streamline the billing process. Most insurance plans are accepted by urgent care facilities. In fact, because treatments at emergency rooms are generally more costly, insurers prefer their customers to go to urgent care clinics. It can be a good idea to call ahead to an urgent care facility to make sure they will accept an insurance plan. The only insurance plan that may not be accepted is Medicaid. Again, this is largely a concern about the cost. The cost of billing and collecting from Medicaid is usually higher than with a commercial insurance company; thus, an urgent care facility will prefer to bill directly to the customer instead if they have Medicaid.

Payment Options

Urgent care facilities are great at providing many payment options for their customers. In addition to accepting most insurance plans, they also offer payment plans for their services, and can occasionally offer coupons and specials for services like preventive testing and seasonal flu vaccines. If a customer chooses to initiate a payment plan, generally a nominal downpayment is required, and no interest is incurred so long as payments are not in default. Some urgent care facilities even provide self-pay discounts for customers who choose to pay without using their insurance.

How Do Urgent Care Costs Compare With Emergency Room Treatment?

By and large, urgent care treatment is cheaper than emergency room treatment. For a host of medical conditions not requiring emergency medical care, urgent care facilities are the best option for those concerned about the costs of medical care. Generally, treatment at an urgent care facility is one half to one quarter of the cost of emergency room treatment. For example, the cost of getting allergy treatment at an urgent care facility is around $97. Compare this to a cost of $345 for the same treatment at an emergency room. Sinusitis is a common problem for people with allergy troubles. The cost of seeing a physician for sinusitis at an urgent care facility can be around $112; however, at an emergency room the cost is a whopping $617.

The Bottom Line

What people may not realize is that emergency rooms bill patients for more than just a doctor's diagnosis. Patients are billed for the use of the facility, doctors are contracted to staff emergency rooms, and insurance companies consider emergency rooms specialty treatment resulting in higher copays. When compared to urgent care facilities, emergency rooms do not provide a good value for the service they render, and urgent care facilities offer cheaper medical costs along with good customer service.

Sheri Clark writes for healthcare blogs. If you're curious about urgent care facilities, read more about how urgent care clinics work.