Urgent care vs. emergency room: What's the difference?

You broke a finger. Or suffered a gash that requires stitches. Or have a nasty rash.

In the past, these maladies might have necessitated a trip to the emergency room. Now, increasingly across New Jersey, there is another option: urgent care.

“Emergency departments and primary-care physicians are the backbone of our health care system,” said Annie Jamison, spokesperson for MedExpress, which has 15 urgent care centers in the Garden State. “Urgent Care plays an important role, with convenient access to health care when it’s necessary.”

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There are MedExpress Centers in Hazlet, East Brunswick and Watchung, and locations are planned for Brick and Howell. They are open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, with a couple of holiday exceptions.

“We help with patients with non-life threatening conditions who need care, which helps the emergency room focus on their most critical needs,” Jamison said.

What exactly is urgent care and how does it differ from emergency rooms? Here is a four-point primer:

1. Emergency rooms remain essential

As noted by Dr. Victor Almeida, chair of Emergency Services at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch and the Southern Campus in Lakewood, emergency rooms sometimes get a bad rap in media and government circles. Why? Because they can be costly and the waits can be long.

That’s a product of their challenging mission: to serve everyone.

“We are obliged by law to care for everybody 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Almeida said. “You do not have to have insurance when you come to the emergency department. When you come to the emergency department, we are mandated by law to do a screening evaluation and determine: Are you safe enough to go home?”

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Because emergency departments are affiliated with acute-care hospitals, “you have many more services that are available,” than at urgent care facilities, Almeida said.

“If you need an orthopedist on an emergency basis, we have somebody who has to come in. If you need a neurosurgeon, we have somebody who comes in. If you need a cardiologist, there’s a person who comes in,” he said. “If you have a true medical emergency, the most appropriate place you could be is the hospital.”

2. Urgent care can be more cost-effective

As Almeida notes, “To keep emergency departments open and staffed at all times comes at a significant cost.”

Hence the rise of urgent-care facilities, which are staffed by physicians and nurse practitioners but generally are not open around the clock.

“Their niche is they can do low-cost, effective care for the (less acute) things that don’t need a lot of people to assist with the care, and they can do it on a more cost-effective basis,” Almeida said. “It’s a way to distribute the volume of people who need to be seen.”

Jamison said MedExpress “accepts most major insurance” and “also offers affordable pricing for those without insurance.”

3. Discerning where to go for your medical issue

Jamison lists stomach flu, fever, earache, sore throats, pink eye, sinus infections, upper respiratory infections, colds and flu as common issues handled by urgent care facilities.

“Also X-rays, IVs, EKGs, labs and treatment for broken bones, strains, sprains and stitches,” she said.

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Said Almeida, “For chest pains, stroke or things that require high technical skill, you need to go to the hospital.”

Almeida added, “If you have a complex problem with a lot of things going on -- diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney issues -- perhaps an urgent care center is not the best place. You may need more in-depth services or consultation.”

4. Convenience vs. importance

Jamison said MedExpress does not take appointments -- treatment is on a walk-in basis only -- and prides itself on having patients “in and out in less than an hour.”

That time frame is just about impossible at an emergency room, which sees the most pressing cases first.

“As medicine morphs today I think they do have a place,” Almeida said of urgent care facilities.

However, he said, it’s important to remember that the missions of emergency departments and urgent care sites differ.

“We’re open 24/7, and we’re mandated by law to serve everybody regardless of ability to pay,” he said. “Urgent care is more of a cost-effective way to get medicine done in a more timely fashion, but it should be for more minor complaints.”

Staff writer Jerry Carino: jcarino@gannettnj.com.