Urgent Care has an annoying habit of charging a bunch of money to punt to the ER for liability reasons. Stitches and X-rays to see if you broke a bone are about the only thing they're good for.
Fine in theory, but the experiences I've had leave something to be desired. Ideally, I want to see doctors I have relationships with, aka my PCP, to facilitate and advise. But they are not interested in that.
Yes. The past three times I've gone to Urgent Care I have been punted to the ER for no good reason twice and received an incorrect diagnosis complete with a prescription that did nothing to alieviate my symptoms. If you get sick/injured in my area between 4pm Friday and 9am Monday...good luck.
That has been my experience as well - best advice, don't get really sick or really hurt outside of regular business hours. Broke my foot a few months back and called all the urgent care outfits in my area for an appt - none of them were seeing patients due to lack of staffing.
Waited a few days to be seen at an ortho office once I had a referral from my primary care physician in place.
