Joining the Revolution How American Healthcare is Changing Thanks to Urgent Care Centers

Modern medicine has made significant technological and medical advances over the years, changing the very way that medicine is practiced in America. Unfortunately, while the technology has advanced it is hard to say that the service has done the same as many Americans are unable to get the degree of health care they need at an affordable price or when they need it. Limited office hours, high emergency room fees, and a general treatment of patients as though they were profit margins has left many Americans with little confidence in traditional healthcare services — thankfully urgent care centers are challenging what many of us thought we knew about healthcare service.

Around the Clock Care


Urgent care facilities strive to provide patients with fast care and extended availability. Over half of all urgent care centers are open before 9 am during weekdays with around 45.7% doing so on Saturdays and 31.1% doing so on Sundays — likewise over 90% of centers are open later than 7 pm on weeknights with around 40% remaining open until 9 pm if not later. Nearly 60% of all urgent care facilities have a wait time of less than 15 minutes to see a physician with four out of every five visits taking less than an hour for treatment. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that nearly half of all adult emergency room patients that were denied admittance into the hospital because they were not deemed sick enough found treatment at a local urgent care facility instead. For quality care around the clock, consider visiting an urgent care clinic near you.

Caring for Your Medical Needs

Since urgent care centers are able to treat a large number of patients in a relatively short amount of time, many are skeptical as to the quality of care that they are able to provide. Nearly all urgent care centers have a physician on staff at all times; some centers even have emergency wings and trauma centers of their own. Four out of every five urgent care centers are equipped and capable of providing fracture care to patients and seven out of ten centers are equipped to provide intravenous fluids as needed. Many may be surprised to learn that around 40% of American urgent care facilities make use of an electronic prescription ordering system; this means that such centers can fulfill the role of a primary care physician for those who lack insurance or healthcare options.

The Mission of Urgent Care Services

Walk in clinics are still relatively new to the field of American medicine, so it is likely that many people are still unsure about what they are exactly. In short, these clinics were founded by individuals that took issue with the quality and level of treatment options available to the general public. The internet has helped expose a number of hospitals that artificially inflated bills to profit from patients: this includes $8 boxes of tissues, over $20 for an aspirin, and charges for every single time a patient’s blood pressure had to be taken. Around half of all walk in clinics are actually owned by a physician or a group of physicians that felt that their medical skills and experience could be better devoted to the public by leaving traditional healthcare institutions — the success of urgent care facilities across the nation is showing that these individuals have made ripples that will forever change healthcare as Americans know it.