Emergency vs. Urgent Care: What’s the Difference?
Posted by Brigham and Women's Hospital March 22, 2016

Most urgent care centers can handle many of the bumps, bruises, and minor illnesses that previously were only seen in an emergency department.
Your daughter just twisted her ankle while playing outside, and her foot and ankle have become quite swollen. Are you unsure about whether to bring her to an emergency department (ED) or to an urgent care center? Either option is appropriate, but you might be surprised to learn that most urgent care centers can handle many of the bumps, bruises, and minor illnesses that previously were only seen in the ED.
Dr. Calvin A. Brown III, Medical Director of the Urgent Care Center at Brigham and Women’s/Mass General Health Care Center in Foxborough, says that the recent advent of urgent care centers has created a valuable health care resource. They help patients who desire – and probably need – immediate, same-day care, but who aren’t able to get an appointment with their primary care physician and wish to avoid a trip to the ED. The wide variety of medical issues that urgent care center clinicians can treat include sprains, simple fractures, small lacerations, abscesses, bronchitis, asthma attacks, allergies, urinary tract infections, ear infections, low-grade pneumonia, concussions, and many other conditions.
“There are certain issues, like a sprained ankle, that we can handle very effectively and efficiently at an urgent care center, with outcomes similar to what you would get at an emergency room,” says Dr. Brown. “But there are a lot of cases where it’s probably not appropriate to go to an urgent care center.”
Dr. Brown says that patients with severe abdominal pain, a wound infection, difficulty breathing, or chest pain – which might indicate a heart attack – should go to an emergency room. An ED has more resources for dealing with these complex and severe medical conditions, such as greater access to specialists and advanced diagnostic and treatment technologies.
First-Come, First-Serve vs. Triage
Dr. Brown, who is specialty trained in emergency medicine, has treated many patients in both an emergency department setting and an urgent care center. That combined experience gives him a keen sense of when a patient waiting in an ED could have saved a lot of time by going to an urgent care center.
No appointment is required at either an ED or an urgent care center, but how they respectively prioritize care upon a patient’s arrival is quite different. Patients are generally seen on a first-come, first-serve basis at an urgent care center. EDs, on the other hand, use triage, a system that prioritizes patient treatment according to the severity of a patient’s condition. This means that a patient who chooses to seek care at an ED for a sprain or other lower-priority condition may have to wait awhile before receiving treatment.
“In general, the wait time at an urgent care center is much less than what you would expect at an emergency department,” says Dr. Brown. “Our wait time is on the order of minutes, while some emergency departments, at their busiest times, can be an hour or more.”
Dr. Brown also notes that ED visits for minor conditions can be a public health issue. While many consumers may not incur large out-of-pocket costs for ED visits, the compounded effect of those visits on overall health care costs is significant. The total bill for treating a specific condition at an ED can be many times higher than what it would cost to treat the same condition at an urgent care center. Such differences, in turn, contribute to higher health care costs.
Dr. Brown, however, suggests that a safe choice is a wise choice when a patient has a serious condition and is unsure about what to do.
“I think it makes sense to err on the side of caution and go to the hospital if you suspect a serious illness or a serious injury,” says Dr. Brown. “We can always do an initial evaluation at the urgent care center, but there’s a good chance that we’ll end up transferring you to a hospital for further evaluation and treatment.”
– Chris P.
comments (7)
I am wondering when to go to the urgent care vs when to go to the emergency room. I did not know that the exact purpose of an urgent care center was for people who need a visit that day, but can not get in to see their primary physicians. That means that in an urgent care center, they can deal with a large variety of sicknesses and problems. Now that I know that I will make sure that I go to the right place for the best care for myself and my children.
on December 5, 2016 9:20 pmI never considered going to an urgent care facility for an injury instead of the ER. Last time I broke my arm I went to the ER and I felt really bad that they were treating my arm that could have waited a little longer instead of other patients. I’ll have to remember that urgent care can do a lot!
on July 20, 2016 5:29 pmI never knew that most urgent care centers can take care of most of the same problems that patients who go to the ER have! There have been a few times where my kids have broken bones and I have taken them straight to the ER out of worry. There is an urgent care center closer to my home than an ER. Next time something happens, I will try going there. I can only imagine that it is cheaper as well!
on July 14, 2016 12:43 pmI never realized that urgent care center’s can take care of many of the symptoms that are seen in the ER! You would probably save a lot of money too by going to an urgent care center instead. However, I would like to make the point that if you have a bad feeling about an injury, you should go straight to the ER. You don’t want to risk your life!
on June 24, 2016 12:57 pmGlad to hear this post was helpful. Thanks for your comment!
on June 1, 2016 12:33 pmAs a mom, I am never quite sure what to do when my kids get hurt or are sick, so I really appreciate you pointing out the differences between urgent care and emergency care. It is interesting how you point out that urgent care centers are able to handle most of the bumps, bruises and minor illnesses that were previously only seen in the emergency department. In addition, imagine that urgent care centers are probably a lot less expensive than emergency centers. I’ll be sure to keep this in mind the next time my kids need medical care.
on May 24, 2016 9:35 pmThanks for explaining the difference between an urgent care and the emergency room. I have to agree that the convience of immediate care without going to the hospital is pretty cool. I have been to an urgent care many times in my life and got the care that I needed. However, like you said here, urgent cares can only handle a certain set of issues: serious problems should be handled by an emergency room. Thanks for sharing!
on March 31, 2016 2:12 pm