Urgent Care and Medical Cost Savings

Many mobile urgent care practitioners offer services that can save patients, insurance providers and other corporate entities significantly off the cost of such medical services. Staffed by board certified emergency physicians and their assistants, these providers offer comprehensive, efficient and highly convenient mobile urgent care brought to the patient wherever they are, whether at home, in hotel room, at work or elsewhere.

When utilizing these mobile services, patients may avoid the discomfort of travel, sitting in public waiting rooms, further return travel and stopping to wait for pharmacy prescriptions to be filled. Because patients can rest in the comfort of familiar surroundings while awaiting house call services, stress is lowered, and the recovery process can, in many cases, begin sooner. In addition to these benefits of house call services, the cost of a physician or other practitioner visit is usually much lower than emergency department care. In some cases the fees may be less than 20% of the cost or ER care.

House call service fees are generally very reasonable because the ER facility fee and other clinic fees are eliminated. The cost of procedures is usually much less than the ER and many clinics too. Other advantages to house call services include the excess time that house call providers are able to spend with patients. Because mobile practitioners tend to be less hurried, patients are better able to have their questions answered, and the evaluation in many cases may be more thorough.

Most urgent care practitioners maintain easy telephone access anytime after the house call visit so that if problems arise, rapid troubleshooting of the situation is available thus further enhancing convenience and cost savings. Medications dispensed by urgent care providers are priced comparable to pharmacy prices, and in some cases are much lower. For most foreign travelers with travel insurance, reimbursement for services will be 100%. For domestic travelers with PPO insurance policies reimbursement may be up to 80%, is considered out-of-network, and based on the unmet annual deductible.

HMO’s potentially reimburse for house call services up to 100% when locally contracted medical services and facilities are not available. While primary care house call services may be cost effective in cases where the patient is mobility challenged, mobile urgent care medical services are usually highly cost effective compared to all other options, especially that of emergency department care. These mobile medical services are bringing the humanity back into medical care.