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As Utah hits the peak of cold and flu season, hospitals and doctors’ offices are crowded with patients — and a lot of people are wondering: Where’s the best place to go to get the care I need?
If you can’t get an appointment with your primary care physician, or if you don’t have one, it’s common to turn to the emergency room for help. But for many illnesses and injuries, patients can get the same care at a lower cost — and get it faster — by turning to an urgent care clinic, such as Intermountain InstaCare, or telehealth service, such as Intermountain Connect Care.
The average cost of an ER visit in the U.S. is more than a thousand dollars, according to a 2016 study by the Health Care Cost Institute. And now Intermountain’s Connect Care service allows people to talk with a clinician on a computer or mobile device for $59 or less.
Here’s a new resource to help you get the care you need: Intermountain Healthcare has created an online list of situations to help patients choose where they should go for care. For example, people should go to an ER if they experience chest pain or pressure, severe bleeding, a head injury, or trouble breathing. An urgent care would be better for less serious issues such as cough, fever, and other illness.
Here is information on each service:
Intermountain Connect Care
Connect Care is designed for common, low-level, urgent care concerns and can be accessed 24/7 from anywhere using a mobile device or computer with a camera and video-streaming capabilities.
Frequently treated conditions include sinus pain, stuffy and runny nose, sore throat, eye infections, urinary tract infection, lower back pain, and bronchitis. If a Connect Care provider feels that your medical issue cannot be adequately diagnosed or treated by a video visit and requires immediate in-person evaluation, the provider will direct you to in-person care and waive your Connect Care fee.
Intermountain InstaCare or Intermountain KidsCare
Intermountain InstaCares provide care through licensed physicians and specialized staff to handle non-life-threatening urgent care needs, from sore throats and illnesses to cuts or broken bones. Intermountain KidsCares clinics specialize in urgent care for children.
Emergency Room
Intermountain hospital emergency rooms are open 24/7 and are staffed with doctors, nurses, and technicians who are specially trained to handle potentially severe and/or life-threatening conditions.
According to the American College of Emergency Physicians, you should visit the ER if you have any of these warning signs:
“Intermountain’s urgent care website can help people get better care, faster, for the lowest possible cost,” said Mark Ott, MD, medical director of Intermountain Medical Center in Murray. “Many of the conditions that bring people to our advanced-level emergency department could have been handled at their local Intermountain hospital, primary care doctor’s office, or Intermountain InstaCare. We’re sharing this information because we want to help people get the very best healthcare as close to home and for the least cost possible.”
He adds that because of Intermountain Healthcare’s integrated electronic medical records, it’s even possible for patients across Utah to get expert opinions without having to travel.
“If a doctor in St. George needs my opinion on something, I can access the patient’s records at my office here in Salt Lake City. In consultation with the patient’s local physician, I can give a specialist’s input and possibly save the patient an eight-hour round trip, and still have them receive the care they need,” said Dr. Ott, who’s a nationally renowned cancer surgeon.
Intermountain Healthcare has also made it easy for people to find the medical services closest to them by typing in their zip code here.
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