Deciding to visit an urgent care instead of a hospital? You’re not alone.

Urgent care clinics have been steadily popping up across the country over the past six years, and it’s not just because people enjoy having easy access to physicians right in their neighborhood. In addition to the fact that most are open seven days a week for at least 12 hours a day during the week, the average urgent care clinic will treat walk-in patients, no appointment necessary.

But that’s not all. Here are 4 trends that prove people are increasing their visits to urgent care clinics in place of heading to the hospital.

[[{“fid”:”482″,”view_mode”:”default”,”fields”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:”number one”,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:false},”type”:”media”,”field_deltas”:{“1”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:”number one”,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:false}},”link_text”:null,”attributes”:{“alt”:”number one”,”style”:”float: left; margin-right: 15px;”,”class”:”media-element file-default”,”data-delta”:”1″}}]]Although minor illness (cold and flu) still dominate patient reasons for visiting an urgent care, half of all urgent care visits are now consisting of fractures, sprains and lacerations.

[[{“fid”:”483″,”view_mode”:”default”,”fields”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:”number two”,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:false},”type”:”media”,”field_deltas”:{“2”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:”number two”,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:false}},”link_text”:null,”attributes”:{“alt”:”number two”,”style”:”float: left; margin-right: 15px;”,”class”:”media-element file-default”,”data-delta”:”2″}}]]Urgent care clinics are increasing or improving their equipment to expand the types of services they offer and meet growing patient demand. In 2016, urgent care clinics spent $598 million on new imaging equipment, vaccines, diagnostic tools and other medical equipment.

[[{“fid”:”484″,”view_mode”:”default”,”fields”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:”number three”,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:false},”type”:”media”,”field_deltas”:{“3”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:”number three”,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:false}},”link_text”:null,”attributes”:{“alt”:”number three”,”style”:”float: left; margin-right: 15px;”,”class”:”media-element file-default”,”data-delta”:”3″}}]]Patient spending at urgent care clinics has increased over 27% since 2011.

[[{“fid”:”485″,”view_mode”:”default”,”fields”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:”number four”,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:false},”type”:”media”,”field_deltas”:{“4”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:”number four”,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:false}},”link_text”:null,”attributes”:{“alt”:”number four”,”style”:”float: left; margin-right: 15px;”,”class”:”media-element file-default”,”data-delta”:”4″}}]]Clinic hours are set to accommodate people that work full-time. Most urgent care clinics are open seven days a week for at least 12 hours per day. The average urgent care clinic does not require an appointment. This allows people to easily get the care they need after-hours or on weekends.

Source: http://www.kaloramainformation.com/

In addition to these four reasons people are increasingly choosing urgent care clinics over ERs, cost has become a major benefit to using walk-in, urgent care clinics. Below is a graph that compares common urgent care costs with emergency room prices. On average, services provided in urgent care clinics cost 78% less than comparable services at emergency rooms.

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