How To Keep Your Urgent Care Costs Manageable

Health & Medical Blog

Sometimes you need to decide if you are too ill to wait to see your primary care physician. Many times an illness or an emergency will strike outside normal office hours. If you think that your ailment is not serious enough that you need to visit a hospital, then you may want to try an urgent care facility instead. However, you should know that there are some fees you may be looking at when going to an urgent care. Keep reading to learn how to keep your fees as manageable as possible. 

Got To A Separate Clinic

While the vast majority of urgent care facilities are stand-alone facilities, there are some that have a direct affiliation with a local hospital. In this sense, they are basically like off-site emergency rooms. There are many names for these facilities that include freestanding emergency rooms, satellite emergency departments, or hospital outpatient departments. Some of the facilities are actually called off-site emergency departments. The ERs are created to provide emergency services in areas where it may be difficult to access a hospital. 

Urgent care facilities are not affiliated with a hospital and have different requirements. The freestanding emergency rooms have requirements that are closely related to the administration of the hospital, but an urgent care will not. If you do go to a freestanding ER on accident, then you will be essentially visiting the ER and will be charged accordingly. If you go to an urgent care instead, you will be charged urgent care prices. 

So, how do you really tell the difference? Well, you may simply need to ask the facility, and it is wise to make phone calls before you leave your home. Simply ask if the facility is affiliated with a hospital and whether they are an urgent care facility or not. The difference can be several hundred dollars in copayments and other fees. 

Make Sure They Accept Your Insurance

Since urgent care facilities are not hospitals, you cannot just expect your insurance company to cover your costs. In some cases, the facility just may not take your insurance. You should ask this question right away. If you forget, then the urgent care facility will go over this during registration. However, if you are really ill, you may not be well enough to go to another facility if you find out that your care is not covered. 

If you do not have insurance, then you should ask about the costs up front. You may not be able to receive a full estimate before you receive treatment, but you can get a general idea of costs. 

Urgent care facilities can charge a range of different prices. There really is no standard fee scale. So, while one facility may charge only $150, you may see a charge of several hundred dollars for the same services. If you are looking at double the charge, then it is best to simply check for you go. 

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3 October 2017