The Emergency Room: What You Should Know Before You Go

Statistics show that the majority of visits to emergency rooms in U.S. hospitals are for treatment of nonemergent cases that could have been treated elsewhere. Of the 106 million annual visits to the emergency rooms, 58 percent – nearly 62 million cases – are for treatment of patients who could have been seen in other less-acute care settings, such as an urgent care facility or physician's office. In addition to unnecessarily driving up medical costs, the growing trend of non-emergency visits to the emergency room adversely impacts hospitals' ability to care for severely ill or injured patients.

If you believe that you are suffering from a life-threatening injury or illness, or a condition that would place your health in serious jeopardy, you should not hesitate to call 9-1-1 or visit the nearest hospital emergency room. Many illnesses and injuries can be life threatening and do require visits to a hospital emergency room.

Several resources are available to assist you with urgent care situations (health conditions that would not likely require hospitalization, i.e., cuts, sprains, minor trauma, upper respiratory infections, stomach aches, headaches, dizziness, colds, muscle pain):

• Your Physician. If you are able to make a phone call, you should call your physician for assistance. He or she has an understanding of your medical background and can best determine the seriousness of your condition and the appropriate treatment setting. Your physician or an on-call physician is available 24 hours, seven days a week.
• Providence RN. Providence Health Plan members can call Providence RN anytime day or night, seven days a week, to receive free medical advice from a registered nurse. In addition to emergency situations, Providence RN nurses also can provide advice on routine ailments, such as cold, flu and backaches. Call Providence RN at 503-574-6520, 1-800-700-0481 or for the hearing impaired, 1-800-735-2900 (Oregon Relay for TTY).
• Urgent Care Facility. If you decide to seek immediate care for a minor emergency – either because you are unable to reach your physician or believe that you cannot wait to see him or her – consider going to an urgent care facility. They offer the ability for you to be seen by a qualified physician or provider, and have extended hours of operation. Fees (or copayments) for urgent care visits typically cost a little more than a physician's visit, but considerably less than an emergency room visit. Further, urgent care typically has shorter waiting times than emergency rooms and may be closer in proximity than the hospital.

A list of Providence Health Plan (PHP) participating urgent care facilities* is provided here for easy reference. Hours, policies and services vary from one facility to another. You may want to call ahead prior to visiting a facility. Helpful questions to ask include: Is an appointment necessary? What is the average wait time? What is the latest time that you can arrive and still be seen? Does the facility have the lab and X-ray equipment needed to diagnose and treat your condition, if necessary? See our list of participating urgent care facilities.

*If you need urgent care services and are inside the PHP service area, please try to go to a participating urgent care facility. If there are no participating urgent care facilities available, PHP will cover urgent care services received from a non-participating urgent care facility.