Saving yourself the expense of an ER visit requires a great deal of fortitude. There are emergencies that require a call to 911 or a visit to the emergency room. However, there are emergencies that are urgent, but that don’t necessarily merit you rushing to the emergency room. Emergency room costs are significantly higher than visiting other places for care, so take into account these simple tricks to save yourself from massive emergency room prices.
Option #1: Visit Your Doctor
A doctor’s visit is much cheaper than a visit to the ER. When your doctor’s office is open, you may want to visit them for care. Your primary care doctor knows you well, and you will feel more comfortable in their office. This level of comfort also provides lower prices for care, but the environment also makes it easier to deal with an urgent situation. Sometimes if you or a family member has a chronic condition, you can even ask your doctor for a personal cell number in case of an emergency occurs outside of normal business hours.
Option #2: Visit The Urgent Care Office
During business hours, urgent care clinics are open to assist adults and children. These offices help with emergencies that do not require immediate care. You may be urgently ill or injured, but you will survive if you sit in the waiting area at La Costa Urgent Care and Family Practice or a clinic near you. If you can breathe, walk and are not bleeding profusely, you will be able to get help at the urgent care clinic.
Option #3: Don’t React Too Quickly
You may have fallen and hurt your wrist. You may have rolled your ankle while walking into the house. When you have minor injuries, you need to sit down, take a deep breath and consider if you could go to an urgent care clinic or wait for a doctor appointment. You know when medical situations are not urgent, and you must calm down long enough to realize whether or not going to the ER is a bad idea. While you are sitting in the ER waiting for care, you will see people who are seriously ill or injured. You do not want to take time from them if you are not in immediate danger of loss of limb or life.
Dealing with serious injuries is difficult for everyone, but you do not need to go to the ER at the first sign of trauma. You must calm down and consider if your symptoms merit an ER visit. Urgent care clinics offer patients immediate medical care when the situation is not life-threatening. Your doctor’s office will fit you in when you need to see the doctor quickly, and for some situations you may not need medical care at all.
Once you consider your options, you can avoid the massive expense of visiting the ER. You are a smart person, and you can handle your medical needs without heading to the ER right away with issues that are not life-threatening.