Urgent care vs ER
 

We are snowbirds and my wife cut herself the other day. Our insurance only covers urgent care or ER visits. Can anyone suggest a good urgent care facility?

If the insurance covers ER visits, why go to urgent care? Go to UF The Villages Hospital ER. Wait may be longer but better option imo...

Urgent care and ER are totally different facilities. An ER is way more expensive, and should usually only be used for a life threatening injury, and you may have a long wait. There are many urgent care facilities, but they are only as good as the provider who treats you.

I can’t give you a care report, only a “convenience report”. MinuteClinic on 466 is in network for my insurance (non-Medicare). I was easily able to book, change and ultimately cancel my appointment online. Easy text reminders etc. I improved quickly and decided to not seek a medical consultation. However I’ll attempt again if I need to. There appeared to be ample appointment times either next or second day. If you are a Villages Health patient there is also an expedited/urgent care system available. Good luck with it all :angel:

Avoid the Villages Hospital ER at all costs, it doesn’t get any worse than that place. There is an urgent care facility on the north side of 466A, just west of Buena Vista. Good luck.

American Urgent Care on 466a and Gray Ave in Wildwood.

Fast, efficient, friendly…just look at the reviews on Yelp!

You really should advise what area you are in as there are urgent cares all over the place, the above reply is correct, emergency rooms are for true emergencies and stay away from TV hospital at all costs.

My suggestion was based on the premise that 'your wife cut herself..the other day' and that possibly you're having issues with the injury. Thus my suggestion, if insurance covers it, that would rise to an acceptable visit to UF. If it is for Yelp reviews, you came to the right place.

I have had to use urgent care two times since moving to the Villages.

First was on 466 just west of Rolling Acres Road.

Lady Lake Urgent Care
805 Co Rd. 466,
Lady Lake
352-674-9218

The second was on 466A just west of Powell.

American Urgent Care.... - Americanurgentcare

Both of these were good.

I thought I had Covid so I called the Villages and they said that they couldn't see me for three months! I called Lady Lake Urgent Care and they saw me that evening.

For American Urgent care, I had pains in my stomach so I called them. They saw me that afternoon and I got a prescription and the pain was gone the next day.

Vintageogauge is correct. Without knowing where you currently are, the advice is so-so. There are urgent care facilities all over. We don't need precision, but something like north near 42, the Historic section or central near Lake Sumter Landing, or south of the turnpike would be helpful.

When you say "WAIT" at tv hospital, can you believe I waited 8 1/2 hours???

For?

The one on 466A, near Aldi's has worked well for us with much much faster service.

There are two stand-a-lone ER's, one on 466A and one on 44A. They are hospital affiliated. I have used the one on 44A, no waiting and out of there within 2 hours including lab and x-rays. Urgent care is dependent on provider but not being hospital affiliated will send you to a hospital if your situation exceeds their capabilities and the process starts over again. No longer necessary to the hospital ER plus if you don't have life threatening or serious injuries you will wait. Many go the ER for the flu and other ridiculous reasons since the ER must provide care regardless of ability to pay.

Consider yourself lucky, I waited 12 1/2 hours to be misdiagnosed and discharged to drive myself home after midnight while on my death bed.

So this morning, you look on ToTV for advice on helping your wife, who cut herself "the other day." Not even necessarily "yesterday" - I'll go ahead and state - it's not an emergency.

So you can rule out an ER.

There are a lot of Urgent Care facilities within and surrounding The Villages. I suggest you run a google search and base your decision on the one that's closest to you, that's open when you decide to bring her in.

American Urgent Care on 466A in Wildwood is THE BEST!! OR if you need an ER, go to a free standing one either on 44 across from Brownwood OR on 466A next to the Trailwinds shopping. You don't say where you live, so can't help you to the nearest. Either ER is exceptional.

YES----American Urgent Care in Wildwood is the BEST. Dr. Muhammad is wonderful. He came from Tampa and was nominated as one of the best 100 doctors in the United States. No long wait, has great help. Google "American Urgent Care in Wildwood, FL" to get the website to see everything they do.

I am a nurse & ER’s should ONLY be used for LIFE THREATENING events or after hours of urgent care facilities. Our ER has greatly improved since University of Florida Health has bought & staffed it. Urgent care facilities are springing up all over (as are stand alone ER’s.) That all being said, your 1st call should be to your insurance to find out who is in network & what the costs to you will be. Then find the closest to you, as you don’t want to be driving far for “urgent” care. Hope this helps.

Fast
 

Always fast not much of a line and has a Dr or PA there - my go to for everything except where I want history like blood work or regular checkups

601 Gray Ave Wildwood, FL

AMERICAN URGENT CARE & WALK-IN - Updated April 2024 - 26 Reviews - 601 Gray Ave, Wildwood, Florida - Urgent Care - Phone Number - Yelp

I'm told that Medicare won't pay for ER if you've already been to Urgent Care, so be careful which you choose. I thought I had sprained my ankle, but it wasn't getting better after a week. I then went to Urgent Care where they took an x-ray, told me the bone was broken, and that I need to see an orthopedic doc ASAP to determine if I needed surgery. Naturally, it was a 3 week wait, minimum, to get into an ortho. And the ER wouldn't see me since I had already been to Urgent Care. I really felt 'stuck'.

We have used twice MD Now Urgent Care and very good service so far:

805 CR-466 W
Lady Lake, FL 32159

Save the ER visit for life threatening
 

Urgent Cares facilities were established to take the load off of Emergency Rooms. Urgent Cares are for cough, colds, cuts, minor sprains, straind and the like. Emergency Rooms are for life threatening situations - heart attacks, major trauma, strokes, amputations, cardiac arrests…well you get the picture, right. I’m a retired ER RN and can tell you that you will get better and more prompt care for the little inconveniences in your life as listed above.

ERs are for "emergencies" it's in the name. If someone cut themselves "the other day" and writes a post to ask knowing the answer is coming the next day, it hardly qualifies as an emergency.

It's abusing the system.

In February, a friend of mine returned from a cruise and that very day was hit hard by both Covid and Influenza. She stopped at some urgent care place in the area and was tested positive, but the doctor and the nurse practitioner she saw both refused to prescribe Paxlovid for the Covid because they didn’t believe in it. What? I took it a month earlier, and apart from the nasty taste in my mouth for the five days I took it, it was like a miracle drug. I felt much better within four hours. My friend, who is disabled, was sick in bed for a couple weeks, and the chest congestion turned into pneumonia. All told, she was unable to work for three weeks, even though she works from home. All because the doctor believed gossip about Paxlovid.

I used CVS minute clinic last week and was very pleased with convenience of making appt and the care given. When you can’t get into your GP for two weeks it’s nice having a place like this. Less waiting too.

Hard to believe they would refuse paxlovid as they did not believe in it. Both my wife and I had it for covid and it is a marvelous drug.

Yet here you are still alive and typing away. Driving while on your deathbed? Do you care so little for the other people on the road? You might have hurt someone.

I recommend you go to your health insurance web site and see which urgent cares are in your plan as there are so many around here. That would make your billing a lot easier. If they have a triage nurse on call, that's always a good idea first and they will recommend which facility to go to, especially if it might require emergency care.

Are you from Canada or have an Advantage Plan?

The reason the wait may be longer is your answer precisely......urgent care is for cuts and bruises, flu, colds, etc. Urgent care facilities generally help you quickly and charge significantly less. Emergency Room (ER) are for emergencies, conditions that require specialized attention, care, and facilities. When overloaded with patients that belong in Urgent Care facilities, the ERs will back up and treat patients per their individual emergencies (triage) and leave flu, cold, bruises, cuts patients sitting for long time.

I love the way you are so worried about whether he could get home in the first place. The doctor mis diagnosed him and let him drive. I’m sure you’d be thinking about your driving skills under the same conditions.

Correct....its called priority. Has withstood generations. Once again, my post was without the knowledge of severity or location. As of this post, it still is. Obviously if it was a simple cut, an off site would make perfect sense. If it was infected or the concern was about MRSA etc., then absolutely the ER is an acceptable option...especially if your insurance allows.You all know by now that common sense cant be regulated or legislated. People do what they do...

Dr Santos/411 Urgent care on Old Mill Rd by Sumter Landing treated me a couple of times and was good. No appointment, just walk in.

Hard to believe that a doctor would be that uncaring or incompetent. Wow!

UofF ER on Meggison Rd is pretty good.

Really?!
Incompetence? Here’s a couple of examples....

Doc Leaves Patient To Deposit Check - CBS News

https://www.google.com/url?q=https:/...aDcojExY6zJzoj

Be Aware
 

There is NO DR Santos in the area. There are 2 brothers, both are PA's. Each is running an Urgent Care Facility. Or they were a while back, I haven't heard much lately. I believe one lost his Medicare billing. But everyone thinks they are physicians and they are not.

I have no problem with PA's or NP's........ I just have a problem when one allows the patient/client to believe they are indeed a physician. In a couple instances personally, as an RN, I have seen an NP or PA that I felt actually knew more than the physician they were affiliated with.

It’s good that you don’t....have an issue with PA or NP. Because that’s the way it’s trending in healthcare. I’m ok with it as I feel similar or better about their qualifications, demeanor and decision making. I know you already know this but glad to see their peers feel the same way

Any cut that has been left untreated for so long can no longer be stitched. Any UC would have been able to do this simple care immediately because you would have been put to the front of the line.