Urgent care is generally associated with the delivery of ambulatory medical care outside of a hospital emergency department on a walk-in basis without a scheduled appointment. Conditions generally treated in the urgent care setting range from those conditions that could otherwise be seen in a primary care physician's office to minor emergencies that are often seen in the hospital emergency department. Minor trauma rooms allow also allow for repair of minor and moderate-severity lacerations. In a study of 350,000 patient encounters in UCA-affiliated urgent care centers, it was demonstrated that 55 of the 100 most frequent diagnoses treated in the average U.S. hospital emergency department are also shown in the 100 most frequent reasons patients visited the urgent care center. This study demonstrates a closer resemblence to the hospital emergency department than the average primary care office.

The costs of treatment in an urgent care center setting will vary depending upon what services are obtained but generally, costs in the urgent care setting can be expected to be half to one-fourth of the cost of treating a like condition in the hospital emergency department.

Which plans an urgent care center participates in vary widely but many urgent care centers accept most popular payment sources. Some do not participate in Medicaid plans, largely because the urgent care model relies on extreme efficiency in order to keep pricing competitive and the cost of billing and collecting from Medicaid is often significantly higher than other payors and thus it compromises this objective. It is advised to call ahead of a visit to find out the center being planned for visit accepts a particular plan. Urgent care centers are a popular option for most insurance plans; in other words, payors prefer patients go to the urgent care center for treatment instead of the hospital emergency department.

Which plans an urgent care center participates in vary widely but many urgent care centers accept most popular payment sources. Some do not participate in Medicaid plans, largely because the urgent care model relies on extreme efficiency in order to keep pricing competitive and the cost of billing and collecting from Medicaid is often significantly higher than other payors and thus it compromises this objective. It is advised to call ahead of a visit to find out the center being planned for visit accepts a particular plan. Urgent care centers are a popular option for most insurance plans; in other words, payors prefer patients go to the urgent care center for treatment instead of the hospital emergency department.

Though there are some urgent care centers that are staffed by non-physicians, most are staffed by physicians with qualifications that rival that of physicians in the hospital emergency department. Many of the providers in the urgent care sector are board certified in emergency medicine and have significant experience in staffing hospital emergency departments. It is important to note that urgent care centers are sometimes staffed with either Physician Assistants or Nurse Practitioners and that both generally work in conjunction with a defined physician provider. Nonetheless, these providers are fully qualified to provide the care required for the majority of patients seen in this setting.