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After-hours clinics popular for convenience, lower cost than ER.

Article Excerpt
After-hours medical clinics, sometimes known as immediate care or urgent care facilities, are not only convenient for patients with busy lives. They also help keep emergency rooms at hospitals free for treating more serious health problems while saving both patients and insurance companies considerable sums of money.

"In terms of employer benefits, an example from a large employer in this area is the co-pay if you use the emergency room is $75," said Dr. Joan Exline, dean of the College of Health, University of Southern Mississippi. "If you use urgent care after hours, the co-pay is $15. So you can see there are cost incentives to use the most appropriate level of care. Everybody is interested in the appropriate level of care and appropriate cost of care. It is much more expensive to go to the emergency room for care than to one or the after-hours clinics."

After-hours clinics have become a trend in the past 10 to...

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