New Study Says Americans Flocking to Urgent Care Instead of Their Primary Doctor Due to Convenience

A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found more and more Americans are choosing urgent care over their primary physician, reports CBS New York . The number of people treated at urgent care centers has risen more than twofold since 2011, while visits to primary care doctors and emergency rooms (ERs) for non-life-threatening conditions are decreasing. "We are a lot more convenient. Recipients can look at our wait times live online," says the Northwell Health-GoHealth Urgent Care Center's JD Zipkin. He notes such centers treat a broad spectrum of maladies, but cautions that urgent care should not replace regular doctor visits, while real emergencies always require an ER visit. Most urgent care visits cost considerably less than ER visits, are similar in expense to a primary care visit, and are typically covered by insurance. Urgent care centers also can alleviate demand in crowded and costly hospital ERs, and they frequently refer complicated cases to the main hospital. Subsequently, many urgent care centers are owned by major hospital systems.