Have you ever gone to urgent care?

JaneA

I got stung by a wasp or hornet on my little finger on Sunday afternoon and had a severe allergic reaction. I was having any breathing problems so I decided to go to urgent care instead of the ER. I had an excellent experience - in and out within an hour and only a $20 copay. Have any of you used urgent care for small emergencies?

GregP_WN

Donna has decided to use our local urgent care for her 6 month visits that are required to get her high blood pressure prescriptions filled. It's a scam of sorts the doctors have going on for your prescriptions, they force you to come in for a 4 or 5 hundred dollar visit just to get a prescription filled when nothing else has changed. I understand that they need to monitor some things, for some people, but if you have not had any changes they shouldn't force you to come in.

legaljen1969

I used to do "urgent care" doc in a box when I was in college and had limited money. I think the last time I did urgent care was about 15 years ago or more.

Jayne

I have always had good experiences with Urgent Care for sudden emergencies.

LiveWithCancer

I never have needed to, thankfully. Glad you had a good experience!

Bengal

Holy moly Greg. Seriously? That is definitely a scam. Usually all I have to do is phone or, now, go on Patient Portal and request a refill.

I did take my mom to Urgent Care once when the doctor we needed to see was unavailable. It was a very positive expeience.

GregP_WN

It has happened with my doctors too. The neurologist that put the stent in my carotid artery 5 or 6 years ago prescribed me Lipitor. And I get an ultrasound once a year. After the ultrasound they want me to come by their office to "tell me how it went". The office PA stuck her head in the door of the exam room we were in the last time and said "everything looked good, you can go". That neurologist, (a specialist) office charge is around 450. And my insurance covers 50 of it. So, the next couple of times I had the ultrasound done and just went home. I figured if I had any red aliens inside me that weren't supposed to be, they would call and tell me. And no 450 office call. Pretty sneaky, right? Well, they called me and said they wouldn't refill my Lipitor unless I followed through on the office call. That is just plain old hostage taking!

Bengal

Greg, I would call that outright extortion! Sounds illegal to me. Or, it should be!

meyati

Greg, every state has some form of an insurance board or department/agency. I would copy proof of what you say- and send it to the insurance board and the state agency/department. I would also make a phone call--my state has an email to file complaints and fill out the form. many people don't do this, because they think it is useless. You have nothing to lose for trying.

meyati

Back to Urgent care. $10 for my co-pay. They say Presbyterian's Urgent Care is the only consistent saving grace for patients and doctors.

I woke up one morning and my eye itched. I rubbed it and had incrediable pain. My grandson pulled my lid down and found a loose eye lash. I had to hold my eyelid shut to keep it from hurting-BAD HURT BAD. Levi took me to Urgent Care, my cornea was cut by the eyelash. $5 plus a prescription. I usually go twice a year-sinus. They have taken care of medical side effects-didn't diagnose it-treated the symptoms and documented it, A bad sty popped up, Whooping Cough-month after month-2017, ear infections, bad steroid rage side effect of Singular,Insane itching from Singular, sprained my back from moving a full freezer-I couldn't urinate and I thought I had a urinary infection. You know-things like that.

I've been there when they were taking care of a broken arm. The person went in, and they set it, put on a cast- and tho the person had insurance, this was cheaper than co-pays. I like most of the ER and Urgent Care doctors better than the regular practice doctors. Urgent Care were the doctors that started taking pics of my face and recommended that other clinic/doctors do the same. It improved my care, because they could see it was ugly and miserable week after week. That I wasn't snubbed by a neighbor aaand I wasn't in a snit from that.

Carool

My partner and I went in November when he had an ear infection. Right near our apartment. Got seen quickly and he got ear drops. Very nice doctor. And I went to my hospital’s Urgent Care the night of my first chemo, because my temperature had gone up. In the middle of the night. Got seen right away and they reassured me that I was fine.

cllinda

I have used urgent care with my kids. They would come home from school and it was too late to try to get an appointment with their doctor. So off to urgent care we went. For things like sore throats, minor accidents, etc. They usually were not crowded and I was pleased with the care my kid received.