If you were to guess, how many people do you think seek treatment via hospital emergency rooms each year? Even though it is difficult to know the exact number of people who are treated by emergency room staff annually, we do know that there are at least 110 million emergency room visits in the United States every year.

Given that they are only so many hospital to accommodate that many patients over a 365 days, it is easy to understand why emergency room staff are often overwhelmed. Since there is not enough staff or rooms to treat every patient who walks in in a timely manner. Consequently, those patients with less urgent conditions often end up waiting long periods of time for treatment, while the ER staff is overburdened with patient demands.

However, urgent care facilities eliminate waiting for hours on end for emergency medical treatment. In fact, the Urgent Care Association of American asserts that 80% of all urgent care patients receive treatment within an hour, while almost 60% are treated within the 15 minutes of walking in.

While urgent care centers do not have the resources needed to treat traumatic injuries and illnesses, studies have shown that 20% of emergency room patients could receive competent treatment. This is because the typical immediate care and urgent care facility is capable of treating sprains, strains, bone fractures, lacerations, the flu, and many other non-traumatic injuries and illnesses.

Although the short wait is nice, people who are interested in finding a more affordable emergency medical care option might find urgent care centers ideal for them. This is because the average urgent care center charges only about 10% of the cost of the typical hospital emergency room.

If being treated in less than an hour, and at a fraction of the cost of a hospital emergency room sounds good to you, you will definitely find urgent care facilities to be an excellent option. For more, read this link.