What You Can Do

Use the Health Care System Wisely

Use the Emergency Room Wisely

Emergency rooms provide critical, life-saving services for those facing true emergency medical needs. But they make a very expensive doctor’s office.

Emergency room vs. doctor’s office

More than half of all emergency room visits are for minor, non-emergency medical conditions. The table below compares the average costs of a typical visit:

Average Emergency Room Charge	Average Physician's Office Charge
$1,049.00	$153.00

Source: Provider Economics - Wellmark, Inc.

Guidelines to go by

Of course, in an emergency, don’t hesitate. Go to the emergency room, or call 911.

If you feel your condition isn’t serious, call your personal physician. Your personal physician is trained to care for most of your health care needs. Even after hours, your physician’s office will have a doctor on-call who can advise you.

While there are no hard and fast rules for what is a “true emergency” and what is not, here are some guidelines from the American College of Emergency Physicians:

Use the Emergency Room Wisely Downloadable Fact Sheet (PDF)
Spanish Version: Use la Sala de Emergencias con Prudencia Downloadable Fact Sheet (PDF)