If you’re unlucky enough to find yourself in the middle of an emergency, it’s likely that you won’t be thinking about much besides getting help. For most people, getting help means rushing straight to the emergency room. But with new options springing up to handle minor ailments or sprains, you may not have to.
Urgent Care. You’ve probably heard of urgent care, but are you aware of everything that they can treat? Anything from a common cold to a major sprain can be treated onsite at an urgent care facility. Urgent care can save you hundreds of dollars, not to mention what could turn into hours of waiting at the ER. Depending on your insurance plan, copays and other add-ons could cost you up to five times more at the ER, and urgent care likely has a facility closer than the hospital anyway.
Each year in the United States, $60 billion is spent on ER costs, even though tens of millions of that could be saved. The only time you should resort immediately to the ER is if you’re faced with a life-threatening illness or a serious injury. With over 20,000 physicians practicing medicine at urgent care, and more facilities popping up, urgent care is quickly making itself the best option for many health issues.
Mobile Care. Switching gears to an even more convenient option for minor ailments, we turn to mobile care. Pioneered by Chris Pitts, GoMed Urgent Care is a mobile treatment option in which the doctor comes to you. While GoMed itself is a tiny operation consisting of three doctors, others just like it are springing up across the nation. The way it works? The prospective patient calls them and explains the ailment first. Then a certified doctor drives to their location with a car that is equipped with all of the technology generally found at a walk-in facility. With numerous payment options, it’s another ingenious way to get fast care.
What do you think about these new options? Will you be trying any of them soon?
