Where do urgent care clinics and retail clinics fit into the healthcare system?

New urgent care clinics and retail clinics are opening at a rapid rate, but some patients are confused. Where do urgent care clinics and retail clinics fit into the healthcare system? Where should patients go if they need care? Truth is, both settings fit nicely between patients’ primary care physician’s office and the emergency department, treating conditions that are too serious for a normal doctor visit, but not life threatening. Here at Barton Associates, we are doing more and more business with retail clinics and urgent care clinics, so we wanted to put together a simple graphic they could share in order to educate patients about the services they provide based on guidance from BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois. Of course, it is not a definitive graphic. Some less severe conditions can be treated at a higher level of care. For example, retail clinics often provide vaccinations, and patients could get a sprain treated at the emergency department. Also, not all urgent care and retail clinics offer the same services, so there will be some differences in the conditions they treat. Still, we hope the graphic gives patients a general idea of the type of conditions retail clinics and urgent care facilities treat, and that they will consider them a valuable piece of the healthcare system. Tell us what you think in the comments below or on our social media accounts ( Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+)