Urgent Care Costs Less than the ED for Pediatric Medicaid Patients

Urgent Care Costs Less than the ED for Pediatric Medicaid Patients

Visits to urgent care resulted in lower costs and a lower rate of return visits compared with visits to the emergency room among younger Medicaid patients with low acuity symptoms, as reflected in a new study in published in Pediatrics. Researchers at Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City, MO and Children’s Hospital Association in Overland Park, KS looked at 5.9 million ED and urgent care visits by Medicaid-covered children between 2010 and 2012. …

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Study: High Deductibles May Inhibit Adequate Care

Study: High Deductibles May Inhibit Adequate Care

High deductibles may be keeping some patients from getting the care they really need—clearly a risk for them but also a possible impediment to healthcare reform in the U.S., according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Not mentioned is the fact that urgent care may offer a solution to at least one of those challenges by offering care whose cost is scaled to the appropriate acuity level. The study …

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