s/o Urgent Care

[turnipthebeet]

The other post about going to Urgent Care for ear popping, plus reading this article earlier, has me wondering - do you have a PCP, or do you just go to Urgent Care for things? I'm 35, which I think is solidly millennial, and one of the first things I do when I move to a new area is establish primary care. I only go to urgent care if my office is closed. My work also provides a telehealth app which I love, but the copay on it is the same as urgent care ($20 more than primary care), so those are last resorts for me. 

[wildrice]

I've done both in the past. Currently urgent care is a $30 copay vs $15 to go to my PCP, so the two times recently I've wanted a same day appointment, I've gone to my PCP. Thankfully I did establish care with her last summer for an annual physical.

With past insurance my UC was within the same health system as my doctor and the copay was the same, so I think my PCP would have sent me to UC for same day appointments anyway.

[Deleted]

I do, but I also have an HMO so all of my treatment needs to go through my PCP office. Plus, UC is really cost prohibitive for me. My PCP copay is only $40 while UC would run me $100.

[shauni27]

I have a PCP and other than a short period where I did not have health insurance in my early twenties, I always have had one.

I do not have urgent care where I live (too rural)--just ERs in our small regional hospitals (plus one big ER that we get sent to if our small hospitals cannot handle it) and I have only gone once for myself in my adult life.

H on the other hand has broken so many bones he is practically a regular, lol.

[Patsy Baloney]

I tend to go to urgent care for illness and my PCP for routine or issues outside of illnesses that are, "I have snot death and need help." My PCP's office doubles as an urgent care, so sometimes I am able to see my doctor for a sick visit, and sometimes it's another doctor in the practice.

[gummybear]

I have a primary. This works best for me as I tend to have catastrophic thinking /anxiety with health issues. I go in for yearly well visits and bloodwork too. I use urgent care only in cases I can’t get in to my PC immediately.

[TR]

I have a PCP who does family medicine so I see her for everything including paps.

[pandora89]

I have a PCP, but we also have local walk in clinics (I think that are similar to urgent cares in the US) and then we have the ER.

We are lucky in that we dont have to pay for any of the services, or have copays or deductibles because universal healthcare, but our PCP asks that we try not to go to walk-ins and try make urgent appointments with them because if we go to a walk-in, our PCP actually gets billed for it because it's seen as them not providing us adequate care.

[joy]

I have a PCP.

I go to Urgent Care for extremely urgent things where I can’t get into my PCP (who has same day visits). Ex, when I developed double eye infections and the pain was so bad by 7pm that I could not wait until the next day.

[rubytue]

I often call my PCP office, but I rarely can get in for a sick visit. So I generally hit up urgent care. That said, thanks to my cancer diagnosis, she generally does try to get me in when possible. I just send a mychart message, and suddenly I have an appointment. But I did prefer to go through my oncologist, who would just write any script I wanted (most recently, stronger antifungal than OTC for athletes foot, without seeing me).

[jinkies]

I guess I technically have a PCP, but I have been there maybe twice in the past 15 years. Once for pink eye, and once for a physical when I turned 40 because i wanted to have some baseline tests done and basic check up.

To be fair, I don't get sick much in general. I may have gone to urgent care once or twice in that time frame. There was some weird glitch in our insurance where the CVS minute clinic was billed as regular doctor visit and not an urgent care, so we've been going there a lot lately. It's just more convenient.

[icedcoffee]

I have a PCP, but it's been so long since I've been there I actually think I might not be a patient there anymore. I've only needed 2 doctors visits in the past 5 years or so. One was rib pain and I knew if I went to my PCP they'd refer me out anyway because they don't have an x-ray so I went straight to Urgent Care. The second I had a killer sinus infection, but I didn't want to miss work (my PCP has really limited hours and is far from work) so I went to a walk in clinic near my office. I think it's considered immediate care. Not sure if that's the same as urgent care, but I was in and out with a Z-pack in less than 20 minutes.

I probably need to go in for a physical to reestablish myself as a patient with my PCP. The last time I went was November 2015.

I do think people overuse Urgent Care as their PCP and it's probably more expensive (both for the patient, insurance and society as a whole) and unnecessary, but their are also tons of valid reasons to go there.

ETA:  I've been going through fertility treatment, pregnancy, or breastfeeding for much of the last 5 years so I was seen often by medical professionals so a physical/primary care seemed unnecessary.  I plan to go in for full workup after I wean this summer so I can get some bloodwork and stuff.  Not sure if it's necessary, but it sounds like a good idea in my head.

[eddy]

It is almost impossible to get into the PCP same day. So PCP is used for annual check ups and appointments that are made long term. Urgent care is used for anything we need to be seen on the same day.

For example I brought my son into urgent care last week because he had a perforated ear drum.

[macmars45]

I have a pcp that's a family dr. I see her for everything. Urgent care is only for when my dr isn't open or if they can't get me in quickly enough for a pressing issue.

[exploding people]

I don't have a PCP, but there's a walk-in clinic (that also takes appointments) near my office that I use for pretty much everything. With my insurance, the copay at the walk-in is like half the cost that it would be at urgent care.

[af1212]

I have a PCP. I go there yearly for a checkup and as needed for long-term health problems.

For anything acute (sinus infection, flu, uti, etc) I go to minute clinic.

I have a HDHP and pay out of pocket for all medical costs. Minute clinic is about $50 cheaper than PCP in my experience.

[lightbulbsun]

I do not currently have a PCP, and I haven't for about 5 years, due to my own laziness. I have an obgyn, dentist, eye doctor, etc, just no PCP. I get annual bloodwork done through my work, so I know I'm generally healthy.

I went to urgent care once a couple of years ago when I had a bad infection in my leg from poison ivy. I went to the ER a few months ago for a dog bite, and have been doing my follow up appointments with the plastic surgeon who saw me at the hospital. Honestly aside from these two incidents, there wasn't a time when I actually thought about going to the doctor for an illness or injury.

[CurlyQ284]

I go to Urgent Care if its after hours or weekends. PCP otherwise.

[beerlover]

I've always had a PCP on record, however, up until 2016 my PCP was in my hometown 45 minutes away, so I never went there. I never really had any health issues though. I would just go to urgent care for the one time a year that I'd get bronchitis or a sinus infection or something. After I had my son in 2016, I developed PPD and insomnia and needed medication and more frequent visits, so I switched PCP's to one that is basically a block from my house. It's been wonderful being able to get in whenever I need to. I go there for bi-annually check-ups basically so that she can fill my Xanax prescription that I use infrequently, lol. Sometimes it's still hard to get a sick appointment, so I'll go to one of the 2 urgent cares in our area for that if needed. They're both open til 8pm so that's helpful. The cost at UC is $50 vs. my $25 co-pay at the PCP.

[Susie]

PCP, and I also only go to Urgent Care if the office is closed and I think I have something that would be readily treated by Rx.  My PCP has same-day appointments.

I've only been to UC a handful of times, and I always feel like the care is kind of crappy by comparison.  Not that the practitioners are bad, like any area of care there are good ones and bad ones, but I don't feel like episodic care with someone different every time works out all that well.  UC has a place for injuries, quick treatment of infections, etc., but not as a substitute for primary care.

I see my PCP every year for a check up, blood work every other year, and sick visits as needed.  I get my vaccines there too (including flu shots) so that my vax records are all in one place, other than the TDaPs I have gotten at my OB during pregnancy.  

[icedcoffee]

I'll add that I think I often just can't think of a good reason to see a PCP. Like a few years ago I had bad cracking on my lips (like really deep and painful--angular cheilits) and I just figured it sounded easier to go straight to a dermatologist even though a PCP probably could have prescribed what I needed. I didn't want to take the chance that they'd refer me out and I'd have to waste more time.

[Deleted]

I have a PCP but it’s not uncommon for me to wind up at urgent care. My poor daughter wound up at urgent care twice during the fall despite having a pediatrician because she kept getting sick on Sunday.

[sdlaura]

Our health system has a network of clinics affiliated with them (health express). They’re in the same offices and with the same doctors as my PCP’s medical group. But I can make an appointment for anytime online and they’re open much longer hours/more days, so it’s so much easier than waiting for my PCP. I’ve never been to a regular urgent care clinic. The only time I see my PCP is for a recurrent health issue or to get a referral (we have an HMO).

[irishbride2]

We all have a primary care doc. But I’ve used urgent care occasionally when out of town or on a Sunday.

[sugarbear]

My "PCP" is also a close friend of mine who lives up the street. I'm terrible in general about going to the doctor, so generally I go to urgent care. I know that if I called her, she'd come to my house but obviously that's not ok (she did come over to remove a drain after my surgery this summer, which fascinated my kids). Her office is several miles (but in Seattle traffic, easily 35-45 minutes), and I hate going there. I really just need to find a new doctor near my house.

[karinothing]

I have a PCP but go to urgent care for most things. I have a fever of 105 and cant swallow and my PCP is all "I can make you an appt on 4 days" not helpful

[ckay]

I have a PCP/ family doctor that I see for everything, including paps. I have an HMO, so all care needs to be coordinated through her. My medical group does have an urgent care/after hours clinic that I can go to for the same copay as my PCP-I’ve only been a few times when I’ve been super sick on the weekends, otherwise I just make an appt with my regular doctor.

[readyin07]

Well when my H had the flu a little bit ago and called his pcp they said they could see him in a week so...that tells you what we do lol.

I think a sick visit to our dr might be a little less than urgent care, or it was on our old insurance, but if they can’t see us when we need care (which is hardly ever) then it really doesn’t matter.

[cajunmom]

I use a PCP usually but have gone to UC a number of times in the past. Now that I think about it, I haven't been to UC since I established care with my current PCP about 3 years ago. I would only go to UC now if I was really sick and couldn't get a same day appointment with her. If I need something like a diflucan or some toradol she'll send in a Rx without seeing me, which is nice.

[alleinesein]

My PCP left the health group so now I need to pick a new one. I've seen almost all of the doctors at the office so it will come to whoever is taking new patients. There are enough doctors in the internal medicine department that they all take turns as the on-call doctor for the day and they have a full-time NP that only does same-day appointments. If you call right when they open, you can usually get something with the on-call doctor. If they can't squeeze you in, they will tell you to go Urgent care if it truly is an urgent matter.

Most of the time it is actually cheaper to go to urgent care than to see the doctor. They charge the same copay with my plan so if I have to pay OOP to meet the deduction, UC is the cheaper option.

I very rarely go to the doctor and when I do, it is because something is oozing out of a body part (infection) or I am making sure I didn't break something. Otherwise, I just suck it up and wait it out. 99% of the time, I already know what they will tell me to do so I don't waste their time (or my money) unless I've tried everyting and it is getting worse.