Over the past decade, emergency department visits have increased. This is due, in part, to how much people in the United States rely on having 24-hour access available. Currently, there are roughly 110 million emergency room visits made on an annual basis.

Many of these emergency room visits could be handled at an outpatient care facility, however. Truven Health Analytics reports that for those individuals with consumer-sponsored insurance, over 70% visited hospital emergency rooms for non-emergency conditions. Furthermore, Miliman conducted a private study that determined 44%-to-65% of the individuals that visited emergency rooms could have been treated at an urgent care clinic.

Emergency room visits are obviously more expensive than urgent care visits. On average, when patients have insurance, the reimbursement is $103 for urgent care visits and $302 for traditional hospital emergency room visits.

When you or someone in your family needs emergency healthcare services, your first thought may be to go to the emergency room at a local hospital. There are alternatives, however, to traditional hospital emergency rooms, such as the hybrid model. Basically, this is a combination urgent care facility combined with an emergency room.

These types of facilities are a convenient quality and cost effective ER alternative. In addition to having emergency-trained doctors, they also provide family medicine and occupational health services. They can treat minor injuries and illnesses with less waiting time than a traditional hospital emergency room.

There is usually less wait time at 60% of these urgent care centers. In general, a patient may wait less than 15 minutes before seeing a physician or a mid-level provider. Many of these centers, roughly 65%, will always have an on-site physician.

Another benefit to these types of facilities is that they are open seven days a week. As of 2014, 99% of were open for at least four hours a day and 97% were open seven days a week.

Currently, there are 20,000 physicians that specialize in Urgent Care Medicine. The number of professionals in this field is growing as it becomes an even more recognized specialty.

When there is a need for emergency healthcare services, it’s important to know that there is an urgent care center in the vicinity. Currently, there are approximately 9,300 urgent care centers in the United States. Every year, 50-to-100 new clinics are opened.