In theory, getting the medical help that you need is easier than ever before. From hospital emergency rooms for the most serious of injuries and illnesses to the convenient walk in clinics that post their wait times on large interstate signs and prices in the lobby, there is a wide range of options when it comes to getting the medical help that you need. Medical center emergency rooms are as expensive as they are effective, however, so it is often in everyone’s best interest to make sure that they make wise choices about the places where they get the care that they need.

Typical family physicians and pediatricians still offer slots for regular office visits and serve a number of purposes that help people get the care that they need. These prearranged appointments, often that are needed weeks if not months in advance, are not always the best option for late night illnesses and weekend injuries. Waiting until the next morning or after the weekend is not always an option. At the same time, many of these health situations that cannot wait until a regular office visit on Monday morning do not merit a trip to a hospital emergency room. A medical walk in clinic is often the perfect solution.

Getting the Medical Help That You Need Is a Combination of Convenience, Price, and Reliability
With the latest walk in health care options it is important to understand how to effectively select the one that will work for you. You never want to waste your time going to a setting where you cannot get the level of care that you need, but at the same time you do not want to over pay for emergency room care when it is not necessary. Understanding the roles that family physicians and pediatricians, walk in health clinics, and hospital emergency rooms play is important to understanding the decisions that you should make.

There are currently 20,000 physicians who practice Urgent Care Medicine today, and the latest research indicates that as many as 3 million patients visit this platform each week, according to the Urgent Care Association of America. One of the reasons that these convenient locations are increasingly popular is that 85% of urgent care centers are open seven days a week. Today, the decision about where people should get the health care that they need should be easy, but it is always important to make sure that you consider the seriousness of your illness and the costs of the kind of care that you seek out.