By Stephen Smoot
One of the problem areas in the rising cost of health care involves the use of hospital emergency rooms for immediate care needs. In the fall of 2024, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality issued a report on the rising cost of “treat-and-release” visits to hospital emergency departments.
Earlier this month, Becker’s Hospital Review published average emergency room wait times. West Virginia enjoyed a better than average time of 143 minutes with Maryland clocking in at 246 and Virginia 162. Patients in UMPC Western Maryland in Cumberland have seen much higher times, however.
Last week, a patient in their emergency room waited eight hours for treatment, saw no one, and had to find a ride to West Virginia University’s Potomac Valley Hospital in Keyser where he found treatment within two hours of arrival.
According to Cedar Point Health, in West Virginia an urgent care facility will see patients on average in under 30 minutes.
In 2021, the cost of an emergency room visit in the United States averaged $440 for children up to and including 17 years of age, $660 for 18 to 44, $880 for 45 to 64, and $1,110 for those 65 and older. By 2024, according to United Healthcare, the approximate cost of an emergency room visit reached $1,700. In November of last year, a United Healthcare report shared that “ER visits can cost 10 times more than an urgent care visit.”
With emergency department costs stacking up on both hospitals and patients alike, it makes sense for hospital systems to invest in establishing them as another option for patients.
Last week, “WVUMedicine Grant Memorial Hospital . . . hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the upcoming opening of the RapidCare Clinic and the WVU Medicine Golisano Children’s Outpatient Clinic.” The facility opened for patients on Jan. 19.
“We consistently heard from the community that there was a need for RapidCare,” stated John Sylvia, Grant Memorial Hospital chief executive officer, during the event. “This is another step in our commitment to providing quality care to our community, with many more to come.”
Urgent cares differ from emergency rooms in that they treat less serious illnesses and injuries and typically do not operate as a gatekeeper for patients that may require full admission to the hospital. As the GMH release explained, this enhances “timely access to treatment.”
“The walk-in clinic will be open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., closing only on Thanksgiving and Christmas,” the release also stated.
