An urgent care clinic is, as the name implies, a clinic designed to handle urgent, less common medical issues that come up. Many urgent care clinics serve the same function as traditional emergency rooms (where you would go if you had severe chest pains). But again, the urgent care clinic’s goal is to handle illnesses and injuries that are not life-threatening but require medical attention.

Urgent care clinics are also more convenient for patients. They are designed to be open evenings and weekends and in locations where access to a regular doctor might be difficult.

Today, we will explore how urgent care clinics are revolutionizing modern healthcare.

Here’s what you need to know:

Lower Costs

The first thing to realize is that you can get medical attention when needed but still stick to your budget. Many urgent care clinics offer routine medical services at the exact cost of a regular doctor’s visit or even cheaper.

The urgent care clinic can treat more minor illnesses, which means they don’t have to incur the costs (and expenses) associated with emergency room visits. Urgent care also provides more efficient referrals to emergency rooms. This means you may be able to avoid a multi-day emergency room stay for something that a simple antibiotic prescription could treat.

Convenience

Another key advantage of the urgent care clinic is that it is open when regular doctors’ offices are not. Many of the nation’s leading urgent care clinics, including the one pictured above, are available during the evenings and weekends and provide on-site lab tests.

This means that you can get medical attention while it’s convenient for you, which will help you avoid slipping through the cracks.

High-Quality Care

One of the great things about urgent care clinics is that they provide high-quality medical care to patients. While urgent care clinics cannot handle the same types of issues as regular emergency rooms (except for some minor emergencies that are not life-threatening), they are staffed by a board-certified physician. This means that you will be getting the highest level of care available outside of a hospital.

The staff at urgent care clinics is also well-trained in common ailments and injuries. It allows them to provide better care than many traditional primary care doctors.

Accessibility

Even with the growing number of urgent care clinics, many Americans have difficulty accessing traditional healthcare.

In some parts of the country, regular doctors are few and far between. Accessibility is also difficult for people who work odd hours or cannot attend a normal doctor’s office during working hours.

This is one of the many reasons urgent care clinics have grown in popularity. An urgent care clinic is the only option for routine healthcare in many areas.

With many millennials entering the workforce and many more entering the older generations, healthcare will soon be a hotly-debated topic.

If you’re interested in exploring urgent care, be sure to check out the location in your area. If you’re waiting on a regular doctor, or the wait is too long, a visit to an urgent care clinic might be just what the doctor ordered.

The Bottom Line

Urgent care clinics are revolutionizing modern healthcare. They are providing patients with convenient access to high-quality medical care. They are also a more affordable option for people who don’t have access to regular doctors. If you need routine medical treatment, an urgent care clinic may be an excellent option for you.

If you are looking for urgent care, we can help you. Aspen Medical Center provides urgent care and primary care. We are a locally owned outpatient medical facility in Santa Fe and Espanola, NM offering state-of-the-art primary care and urgent care services. Contact us today to learn more.