A new walk-in clinic is coming to Ellsworth
Builders were working on the second floor of the two-story ConvenientMD Urgent Care facility in the
"When we opened in
Urgent-care centers have become popular in recent years because they're an alternative to long waits in emergency rooms or at primary care practices for patients who don't have life-threatening problems but seek immediate service, said
Urgent-care clinics can be the first stop for maladies ranging from sports injuries to flu cases. They also provide flu vaccines, drug testing and other forms of urinalysis and blood work, and X-rays and sonograms. Urgent-care clinics handle infusion care, or medication injections that are typically administered by nurses, too, Morrow said.
"Urgent care, or doc in a box, is a great alternative to going to a hospital emergency room because of the lack of cost," Morrow said. "This is where they really speak to a community, which is generally short of primary care physicians, and if you have them, they are sometimes hard to see when you have, for instance, developed a flu over the last 24 hours."
Exact cost-comparison data for
There were more than 9,379 urgent care facilities in
Among the 45 Maine centers are Maine Medical Center Urgent Care Plus in
The ConvenientMD facility in
ConvenientMD will triage true emergency-room cases to the
The biggest shortcoming with urgent-care facilities is continuity of care, Morrow said. The facilities need to communicate well with emergency rooms and physicians to prevent lapses that lead to medical errors.
In addition to its
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