| Primary Care Physician | Urgent Care Center | Emergency Room | |
| What? | A primary care physician is a physician who provides both the first contact for a person with an undiagnosed health concern as well as continuing care of varied medical conditions | Urgent care is a category of walk-in clinic focused on the delivery of ambulatory care in a dedicated medical facility outside of a traditional emergency room. | Emergency Room is a medical treatment facility specializing in acute care of patients who present without prior appointment, either by their own means or by ambulance. |
| Who visits? | Recurring patient bank | Mostly new, but also recurring patients | Both new and recurring patients |
| Appointment? | Appointment based | Appointment or Walk-in Based | Severity based |
| Priority? | Appointment based | First come first served | Severity based |
| Functional hours? | Fixed | Fixed and/or extended hours | 24 hours |
| Functional days? | Limited | Limited | 7 days a week |
| Care type? | General or Specialty care | Short term medical care | Complex medical conditions |
| Equipment? | Minimal | Limited | Extensive |
| Insurance coverage? | Option to accept or deny certain insurances | Option to accept or deny certain insurances | Must see and treat patient, insured or not |
| Bound to Emergency Medical Treatment Act? | Not bound | Not bound | Bound |
| Upfront payment? | May be required | May be required | May not be demanded |
| Staff? | General Practitioner or Specialist | May be staffed by physicians, not necessarily by emergency physicians, or physicians that are not board certified emergency physicians | Must be staffed by staff and physicians board certified as emergency physicians or specialty care staff |
| Staff includes? | General Practitioner or Specialist | General Practitioner, Specialist, and/or Nurse Practitioners | Board Certified physicians in Emergency Medicine, Surgeons, Cardiologists |
| Lab? | Not required | Optional | Required |
| Revenue generated? | Minimal investment, minimal revenue | An additional global charge is added to the visit charges when billed to the payer. | High, due to the specialized staff and equipment. |
| Amount collected per patient?* | $60.00 to $95.00 | $125.00 to $200.00 | $1,500.00 to $15,000.00 |
PCP, Urgent Care Center, and Emergency Room
*Reimbursement may vary upon the payer type
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