For many people throughout the United States, finding the time to schedule a doctor’s appointment with their general care practitioner can be difficult, and even impossible, depending on the overall busy-ness of their life as well as their ability to be able to take off work. For even more people, scheduling a doctor’s appointment with a general care practitioner becomes cost prohibitive, especially if they are uninsured. For the uninsured and the very busy, the emergency room can seem like the only alternative to seek medical treatment. However, an emergency room visit can be hugely expensive as well as time intensive, and can leave many people wishing that they had another option. This is where an urgent care clinic comes in. The presence of an urgent care clinic in communities across the country is becoming more and more popular, and an urgent care clinic can provide the quality medical treatment that your typical general care practitioner would be able to give you.

Going to an urgent care clinic when you need to seek medical advice or treatment is ideal for a number of reasons. First, it is considerably less expensive than an emergency room visit, ideal for those who do not have medical insurance. Your typical urgent care visit will not be much greater than two hundred dollars, while an emergency room visit is likely to cost you more than one thousand dollars. Urgent care centers are also much faster than an emergency room and can even move along more quickly than a general care practitioner’s office. In fact, the average wait time in more than sixty percent of all urgent care clinics is no greater than fifteen minutes, and the average patient is in an out of an urgent care center in less than an hour total. It is easy to find a time to go into an urgent care clinic as well, as more than eighty percent of all urgent care locations around the country are open all seven days of the week, with copious weekend hours. Some urgent care centers are even open around the clock and many have extended hours, staying open much later into the evening than a traditional doctor’s office and opening earlier in the morning.

Urgent care centers can treat a wide variety of conditions, from the minor to the more severe. Across the country, as many a 20,000 qualified doctors and medical professionals are employed in an urgent care clinic, and around three million people entrust their medical care and treatment to a doctor in an urgent care clinic on a weekly basis. Urgent care centers are adept at treating minor conditions, such as the common cold, of which there are as many as one billion cases in a single year. An urgent care clinic can diagnose a case of the flu as well, which will affect up to twenty percent of all Americans in a typical flu season. Upper respiratory infections are also very commonly diagnosed in a typical walk in clinic and antibiotics can be prescribed if necessary.

The majority of walk in clinics are also able to treat a wide variety of injuries as well, most commonly performing would repair. Urgent care centers also often see sprained ankles, of which there are more than twenty thousand in one day. Many an urgent care clinic is able to provide diagnosis and treatment for more serious injuries such as fractures. In fact, around eighty percent of all urgent care clinics in the United State are able to adequately treat a fracture case.

Urgent care centers are important in the United States, particularly for those who need accessible health care, like people without medical insurance or the ability to take off work to schedule an appointment with their general care practitioner. An urgent care center represents a viable alternative to an emergency room with a fraction of the wait time and the cost. Urgent care centers are able to treat a variety of conditions, from illnesses to injuries.