Urgent Matters... (about the growth of urgent cares and the 'Non-Emergency Room')

To [ER]R isn't always smart. To Urgent Care? Divine!

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Urgent Matters THE blog for 'The Non-Emergency Room'.

At Downtown Urgent Care, we truly believe that our independence from any hospital system results in a more honest, less profit-driven approach to medical care. We don't ever suggest hospitalization unless it's really necessary. We don't have beds in the building that need filling.

We were amused to notice that some ERs are offering an online advanced web registration service called InQuickER.com which actually costs the patients an additional $10. So does this mean that when you're having an EMERGENCY that needs you to go to the EMERGENCY room, such as a heart attack, stroke or respiratory distress, before calling 911 you should first sit down at your PC and register online? What genius hospital executive thought this up? Out of gratitude for the belly laughs this provides ER physicians all over the country, we're going to be GIVING AWAY $10 for all those who register online with us for their NON-EMERGENCY problem.

If you register online from our website during the month of December 2011, and you come in and get seen, fulfilling all your financial obligations, we will give you $10 bill at discharge for using our online web registration process! This only applies to 'sick visits' (i.e. not flu shots, drug screens, school physicals and so on). Why are we doing this?

1. To poke fun at the hospital-run EMERGENCY ROOMs that charge $10 for patients to inappropriately pre-register online for problems that are obviously not emergencies (if they were, they shouldn't be messing around on the internet: they should be calling 911);
2. To promote our own web registration process, which is used appropriately for those non-emergency patients who have the social responsibility not to clog up the EMERGENCY rooms with minor illnesses and injuries;
3. Because it's the holidays and we want to share the love (STL) in Saint Louis!

Even the insurance companies (regardless of how you feel about them) are telling people about the 'alternatives to the ER'. This article by Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, summarizes the main point and compares your options very well. Or this one by United Healthcare. Just google 'alternative to ER' and you'll find out all you need to know.

Social responsibility is more than a cliche. As an ER doc for 16 years, I've always been amazed (for want of a better word) at how so many non-emergency problems present to the Emergency Room. A sore throat, a urine infection, an earache, a cough, a sprain, a minor cut that needs stitches, an abscess that needs lancing, an STD, a rash, the list goes on. MOST of the time, these things are NOT emergencies. Why on Earth did people (I say did because more and more are realizing the better alternatives) choose to spend several hours in an ER waiting room, paying $250 for a copay, and seeing the same doctor they could have seen at an urgent care, for much lower cost and in a far quicker time? Why? Was it the TV show? Leaving aside the financial and time disadvantages of going to an ER for a non-emergency problem, what about your social responsibility to your community? What if someone you know or are related to is having a TRUE emergency and needs to get care from the highly skilled emergency physicians and nurses at our area ERs? Do you really want to clog up the ER with your minor illness or injury?

I don't know how to ask these questions without sounding insensitive, but honestly, these questions need to be asked. Just because you can go to the ER for your cut thumb, or your runny nose, doesn't mean you should! I wish I could shout it from the rooftops, until people finally get it.

So 'to err' may be only human I suppose, but 'to ER' is plain stupid sometimes!

916 Olive Street, St. Louis, MO 63101 | 314.436.9300 | DowntownUrgentCareSTL.com

623 West 5th Street, Eureka, MO 63025 | 636.549.2100 | EurekaUrgentCare.com

Disclaimer

This blog is for general discussion, education, entertainment and amusement. Nothing written here constitutes medical advice nor are any hypothetical cases discussed intended to be construed as medical advice. Please do not contact me with specific medical questions or concerns. All clinical cases on this blog are presented for educational or general interest purposes and every attempt has been made to ensure that patient confidentiality and HIPAA are respected. All cases are fictionalized, either in part or in whole, depending on how much I needed to embellish to make it a good story to protect patient privacy.

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