By now, you have probably heard of and spotted numerous urgent care centers in your home town. The urgent care medical model is becoming more prevalent in today?s times. People want convenience, speed, and affordable services, and they can receive all of that with advanced urgent care medical care. These are some of most important advantages of urgent care models.
A convenient medical model
Primary physician care visits can be a hassle. You might have to take time off work or schedule your appointment weeks in advance. You are forced to sit in the waiting room for long periods of time, until the physician is ready to see you. Local urgent care centers, on the other hand, do not require appointments and tend to have much shorter of wait times. According to a survey by The Urgent Care Association of America, 57% of patients wait 15 minutes or less to be seen, and about 80% of all visits are 60 minutes or less.
The urgent care medical model may even be more advantageous for diagnostic and treatment procedures. Many urgent care centers today have the ability to run imaging programs right in the center. This means you can benefit from the advantages of urgent care even when you require an Xray or diagnosis. Additionally, most urgent care centers are owned and operated by a physician, meaning there is a qualified individual on staff to make these diagnoses at all times.
Weight taken off the emergency medical model
Emergency rooms have always been the place to visit for medical emergencies. However, over the years they have gotten the reputation of longer waits and poorer service. Because of the inconveniences of the traditional medical office, more and more patients were heading to the local ER for even minimal medical needs, including ear aches, cold and flu symptoms, and sprains. Perhaps one of the best advantages of urgent care is that the emergency rooms can be saved for those truly experiencing an emergency.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just under half (48%) of all adult ER patients who were not sick enough to be admitted to the hospital sought treatment at the ER because their physician?s offices were closed. With urgent care centers located in just about every city today, these patients now have another medical option. Those experiencing an emergency will likely receive faster and better care when visiting the ER department.
Advanced urgent care technologies
As urgent care centers become more common, their technological abilities will increase. Currently, they are already able to keep up with many doctors? offices in terms of diagnosing, imaging, and using electronic prescriptions. Approximately 40% of urgent care centers use electronic prescription ordering systems, with substantially larger proportions using computerized systems for viewing lab and imaging results, collecting patient demographics, billing, condition and procedure coding, and clinical notes.
It is expected that these urgent care centers will have the ability to offer even more advanced of imaging and diagnostics in the future. As more and more physician?s leave family practice and move to the urgent care model, the service and capabilities will improve. Currently, one of the most important advantages of urgent care is that they are physician operated, giving patients a quality medical care option.
Urgent care centers may very well be the future of medical care. The generations of today expect a more convenient form of medical care. They no longer want to sit in offices for hours, waiting for slow treatments. With the current advantages of urgent care centers, we are likely to see them rapidly expand in the medical market. This will also improve the emergency medical model, giving people better over all ER care.