Guides
Urgent care, ER or telehealth? How to choose
Choosing the right place for care saves time and money, and keeps emergency rooms free for true emergencies.
Dr. Daniel Reyes, DO5 min read
When you or your child feel unwell, the last thing you want is to work out where to go. Yet the choice matters. An emergency room visit for a minor problem can mean a four-hour wait and a bill of $1,500 or more. Going to urgent care with a true emergency can delay treatment that cannot wait. Here is a simple way to decide.
Go to the ER or call 911 for
- Chest pain or pressure, especially with sweating or shortness of breath.
- Signs of stroke: face drooping, arm weakness or slurred speech.
- Severe difficulty breathing or choking.
- Heavy bleeding that will not stop with pressure.
- Serious head injury, loss of consciousness or confusion.
- A high fever with a stiff neck, or any fever in a baby under three months.
If you are unsure whether something is an emergency, treat it as one. No clinician will ever be annoyed that you came in to be safe.
Urgent care is right for
Urgent care handles problems that need attention today but are not life-threatening. Think sprained ankles from a hike at Red Rocks, cuts that need stitches, fevers, sore throats, ear infections, urinary infections, minor burns and suspected simple fractures. At Meridian we have X-ray and a lab on site, so most of these are diagnosed and treated in a single visit.
Urgent care is also a good choice for altitude sickness and dehydration, which we see often among visitors to Denver. IV fluids can make a real difference within an hour.
The right place for care is the one that can treat you safely, soonest. Most of the time, that is not the emergency room.
When telehealth works best
Video visits are ideal for problems a provider can assess by looking and listening: colds, allergies, pink eye, many rashes, uncomplicated urinary infections in women, medication refills and lab result reviews. They are also useful at 9pm when you want to know whether something can wait until morning.
If your telehealth provider thinks you need to be examined in person, they will tell you and help you book. At Meridian, a video visit that leads to an in-person visit the same day is not charged twice.
