Urgent care centers represent one of the fastest growing segments in the American health care industry. As a whole, urgent care centers have better, more convenient business hours, take care of patients more quickly, and charge a more affordable rate for their services than hospital emergency rooms and primary care doctors.

Urgent care centers are most commonly found in cities; only about a tenth of all urgent care facilities are found in rural areas. For the most part, urgent care facilities are required by the American Academy of Urgent Care Medicine to be open for business 7 days a week, and there are many 24 hr urgent care facilities as well that are literally open every hour of every day.

Importantly, there is even the option of urgent care for kids. However, before you take your child to an urgent care center, you should call ahead to make sure they offer urgent care for kids. There are some special urgent care centers that are designed as pediatric urgent care centers, while there are others that treat both kids and adults, or just adults.

The average urgent care center in the United States gets anywhere between 300 and 400 visits a week. Interestingly, urgent care centers can do more than provide mild to moderate health care services. For instance, many facilities have doctors who can perform routine physicals. The majority of urgent care centers are managed by licensed physicians as well, so you can trust that the quality will only be top-notch.

At the end of the day, urgent care centers are a common option for medical treatment because they are cheap, efficient, and convenient. It’s no surprise that urgent care centers are so popular; they offer the best possible quality treatments for the lowest possible price, and people like being able to get medical treatment quickly and cheaply. Find out more here.