Here Are 8 Tips on How to Choose the Best Urgent Care in Fairfield, CT

 

Urgent care clinics are becoming the more attractive alternative to emergency rooms amongst the residents of the U.S. There are now over 9,000 urgent care centers operating in the country. Unfortunately, this rising number of facilities and different services make it even harder for patients to choose the most suitable healthcare provider.

With the number of urgent care centers spread across the U.S., how do you know the best one for you? To help you decide, we’ve listed some important considerations when choosing the best urgent care in Fairfield, CT, that will take care of your healthcare needs the way you deserve it.

Confirm if they accept insurance

1. Confirm if they accept insurance

Everybody knows how expensive healthcare is in the U.S., even if you have insurance. With that in mind, you need to avoid surprise bills and out-of-pocket costs by picking urgent care that belongs to your insurance plan’s network. Luckily for you, there’s a lot of urgent care in Fairfield, CT, that accepts multiple different insurance plans. 

For example, DOCS Urgent Care & Primary Care Fairfield accepts all insurances, giving their patients a wide range of payment choices. You, as a patient, shouldn’t feel like you are being limited or restricted in getting the medical care you need, especially money-wise. 

Try asking your insurance provider for a complete list of urgent care that are willing to accept your insurance plans to understand how many urgent care options you can choose.

See how much their rates are

2. See how much their rates are

Unfortunately, insurance plans are just one of the determinants of your possible medical costs. At a time, patients were met with surprising bills that were too far-fetched from the original costs they had to pay. To avoid that problem, the government passed the No Surprises Act, where no one should be responsible for any surprise billing for emergency care needs involving insurance plans.

Even if the act is already effective, it is still vital for you to have a good understanding of how much you should be paying after receiving urgent care. Luckily for you, urgent care in Fairfield, CT, is much cheaper than ER costs. Therefore, it’s also a good idea to choose an urgent care provider that offers quality yet affordable medical services so you can save more money.

3. Try your best to shorten your visit.

Urgent care is widely popular because of how convenient they are. The average waiting time of urgent care in Fairfield, CT, is only 15 to 45 minutes, which is pretty short compared to ERs with an average waiting time of one and a half hours. Of course, we’re not even mentioning how it would take you around 2.25 hours before they discharge you.

To get the most out of your time, experts advise you to choose an urgent care provider that belongs to your more extensive care network. Establishments linked to a broader network of care providers can drastically reduce the time you’d spend tediously filling out lengthy medical history forms.

Some other ways to make your visit quick and seamless are the following:

  • Schedule a Virtual Visit instead of face-to-face consultation
  • Choose an extended weekday/weekend schedule to accommodate your urgent needs when your primary care provider is unavailable
  • Find urgent care that is not usually understaffed
Find out if they can easily connect you to your primary care doctor or other specialists

4. Find out if they can easily connect you to your primary care doctor or other specialists.

Another reason to choose an urgent care provider that is part of a more extensive network is to ensure that follow-ups are seamlessly executed. Making sure that your urgent care provider is not an independent entity will save you time and speed up any follow-up tasks you must accomplish to finish receiving your medical care.

A good example would be DOCS Urgent Care & Primary Care Fairfield. We are part of a much more extensive network called DOCS Medical Group, which extends to over 15 locations. So we can easily refer you to other specialists or facilities that can provide better care.

Connecting to a much more extensive network can also make medical records more accessible. Each entity on our network can get a hold of your documents and share them with other care providers like pharmacists and chiropractors so you can receive care and get results faster than anticipated.

5. Check their list of services.

While most urgent care centers offer many services besides medical care, it’s still advisable to see if particular urgent care in Fairfield, CT has the service you need. Find out if they offer diagnostic services like x-rays, drug tests, and more. See if they have on-site laboratory facilities and pharmacy services. If you require care for your chronic illness, ask them if they have the staff and equipment that can cater to your needs.

6. Review their credentials

Establishments staffed with board-certified physicians and other trained personnel like physician’s assistants and nurse practitioners are usually capable of providing high-level care. They have the skills necessary to accomplish tests and treatments quickly and efficiently, and you should expect your visit to be a breeze if those kinds of professionals are present in your choice of urgent care.

All DOCS Urgent Care & Primary Care Fairfield staff are vetted to ensure they are the best in their respective fields. Both nurse practitioners and physician assistants work directly under the wings of a certified physician. They will ensure that you get the care you need quickly, efficiently, and promptly.

Observe how they treat their patients

7. Observe how they treat their patients

Even if urgent care can accommodate their patients much faster than ERs, how they treat their customers will still vary. You might think that scrutinizing and evaluating an urgent care’s core principles and philosophies is a waste of time, but they will help you understand how they treat their patients. Take the time to read the mission and vision of the company to see what kind of service and treatment they deliver to their clients.

Remember that quick, seamless, and convenient healthcare services don’t have to come at the expense of compassion and care. So be sure to choose urgent care in Fairfield, CT, that treats their patients like human beings instead of numbers that will go by at the end of the day.

Quick, seamless, and convenient services don’t have to come at the expense of compassion and care towards patients. 

Know their reputation in the community

8. Know their reputation in the community

Reputation plays a crucial role in choosing the best urgent care for you. This is the final piece of the puzzle you need to cement your decision. To further understand an urgent care’s standing in the community, research the facility’s history and the healthcare company it’s connected to. It will give you peace of mind, knowing that you’ve chosen reputable urgent care with no bad records in the past.

The folks at DOCS Urgent Care & Primary Care Fairfield have been delivering top-quality urgent care services for the people of Fairfield, CT. Throughout the years, they have shown what it’s like to be professional and compassionate to their patients simultaneously. This gives the people of Fairfield the confidence to trust us with their urgent care needs.

Final Thoughts

Choosing the right urgent care provider for your needs may sound complicated initially, but with the proper criteria, you can quickly vet the best from the rest. Be sure to select urgent care that will give you quality healthcare while practicing compassion and concern towards you as a person. These two qualities alone will help you decide whether the urgent care you’ve chosen is proper for you or not.

Notice

During this surge in COVID-19 cases, our primary focus is meeting the high demand for tests, and we are seeing higher than usual wait times. This means we are unable to answer most phone calls. Please know that our teams are working very hard during this time to care for as many patients as safely as possible. Please click the button below for answers to common questions. We appreciate your understanding.