As an urgent care physician in Wisconsin I am not surprised by the overcrowding in the ER. Building new facilities would make sense except medicare is being slashed, hospitals are moving to extreme cost savings mode, and frequently the ER is used inappropriately for common problems. Everyone coming in is triaged and the serious illness goes first and less serious are left for later. Having an urgent care center open later may make some sense if financially viable but that raises a whole new set of problems. People with serious illnesses start showing up at urgent care (usually to save ER costs) and end up being referred on to the ER, sometimes in an ambulance, because their problem cannot be handled at that level. That just leaves patients frustrated. I personally would rather pay directly for a convenient clinic to be seen rather than play the insurance game to save $50 and wait hours. Most stand alone urgent cares bill clinic office rates while anything attached to or part of a hospital is at ER rates. That can mean $200 vs $2000 for something like bronchitis. Florida is also known as a malpractice nightmare state.
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