More Data Show Freestanding ERs Cost More Than Urgent Care

Insurers and other parties who hold a stake in the economics of urgent care tend to respond to cold hard data. Here’s some: Seven of the top 10 reasons patients sought care in a freestanding emergency room in 2014 could have been treated safely—but much less expensively—in an urgent care center, according to a new study by the Center for Improving Value in Health Care (CIVHC). Take sore throat, which topped the list of reasons patients went to a freestanding ER: Using Colorado as an example, patients treated for one in the freestanding ER paid more than six times as much as they would have in an urgent care center ($650 vs $100 on average, respectively). The biggest disparity in cost occurred for patients treated for bronchitis or urinary tract infections ($980 vs $100 for each, according to the study). Bear this in mind—and have data in hand—when it’s time to negotiate new contracts or court new occupational medicine customers.