There are various medical situations that require immediate care: life-threatening injuries, major allergic reactions, going into labor; but if you don’t need that immediate medical treatment, it might be better to do a primary care physician search to find reliable family care providers near you.

The wait time in emergency departments in the U.S. has increased rapidly over the last few years to over an hour. So the benefits of having your own personal physician are even more evident. Sadly, only 30% of doctors have after-hours coverage, so it is very important to do a primary care physician search, and read primary care physician reviews, so that you can make an informed decision on which physicians are right for you and your family.

Benefits of having personal family care physicians:

• Develop a personal relationship.
• Access to regular check-ups.
• Doctors can make house calls.
• Find out what works best for you by building a rapport with your doctor.
• Access to necessary prescriptions.
• Schedule a meeting on your time.

Free health clinics and emergency departments are getting much more expensive. The average expense for someone who had one or more visits to an emergency room was just under $1,500, according to the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). So having a personal doctor can help lower unnecessary costs when emergency room visits are not needed. Make sure you take into account insurance during your search. Over the next ten years, the U.S. will need more than 50,000 new primary care physicians to meet the country’s healthcare needs; so prices for personal doctors will vary. Be sure to focus not just on the cost of the physician, but on what your insurance will cover, too.

If you need medical treatment but you either don’t need a primary physician or don’t have one, and it is not a life-threatening emergency so urgent care and the emergency room aren’t necessary, there are other options available for medical treatment. If you have a specific medical issue, there are various centers you can go to: health clinics for children or women, and various free STD testing clinics are available.

It is extremely important to not rush into anything regarding your long-term health, so be careful and spend a lot of time on your primary care physician search if you decided that is your best option for you and your family.