Poll: Choosing Urgent Care Centers Over Emergency Rooms May Put Patients at Risk

In a new poll from the American College of Emergency Physicians, many emergency room doctors report concerns that patients may not know when it is best to seek care for serious, often life-threatening medical concerns from a hospital emergency department rather than an urgent care facility.

A total of 76 percent of emergency physicians who responded to the online poll said they have at least some concern about patients with life-threatening conditions – such as chest pain, stroke symptoms or difficulty breathing – going to an urgent care center before going to a hospital emergency department.

In a commentary on the poll, Michael Gerardi, MD, FACEP, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians, wrote, “Choosing an urgent care center over an ER during a medical emergency could cost a patient his life.”

When asked to identify the top reasons patients are redirected to an ER from an urgent care facility, 90 percent of the emergency doctors said it was because the medical condition was “potentially more serious than the patient thought,” the poll report states.

Further, 30 percent of the poll’s respondents said that in the past year their emergency department had treated up to 100 patients who originally went to an urgent care center for life-threatening conditions. Twenty-three percent reported treating between 101 and 400 patients for serious conditions in the ER after they first went to an urgent care center.

Seventy-one percent of the surveyed medical professionals also reported that every day, they treat patients in the hospital referred from urgent care facilities. Of those, 54 percent see patients more than once a day from urgent care centers.

Urgent Care Centers Lack Equipment, Resources That ERs Have

“This is a new twist, given all of the attention focused on preventing emergency visits,” said Dr. Gerardi in a press release. “Many people may feel they are saving time or money by going first to urgent care, but in instances of serious illness, that loss of time can be dangerous. Urgent care centers are great options for common medical problems, but they are not substitutes for emergency care.”

Sixty-five percent of the poll respondents said patients were redirected to the emergency room from an urgent care center because of limited equipment and staffing at the urgent care facility. And 72 percent of the emergency room doctors said they believe states should have specific equipment or staffing criteria for urgent care centers.

More than half of the doctors responding to the poll said the urgent care facilities in their area market themselves as alternatives to the hospital emergency department. In the press release, Dr. Gerardi said that sends a dangerous public health message.

“Urgent care centers don’t have the same equipment and staffing as an emergency department,” Dr. Gerardi said in the press release. “They treat minor illnesses and injuries, such as sprains and minor cuts requiring stiches. They don’t have the capabilities that emergency departments do for complex diagnoses and treatments.”

More than one third of the poll’s respondents said urgent care centers in their area do not have access to on-call specialists.

The American College of Emergency Physicians suggests seeking urgent care for medical conditions that could be treated by a patient’s regular doctor, except the office is closed. It recommends going to a hospital ER for medical emergencies such as difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, chest pain, coughing or vomiting blood, change in vision, sudden and severe pain, uncontrolled bleeding and severe headache or vomiting after a head injury.

The attorneys of Morrow Kidman Tinker Macey-Cushman, PLLC represent patients who have been harmed by negligent medical professionals and preventable medical errors in Seattle and across Washington. To discuss an urgent care center’s potential medical error in confidence with an experienced attorney, please contact our medical malpractice lawyers to schedule a free case review.