GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Cold and flu season has some hospitals asking patients to consider their symptoms before heading to the emergency room. In Grand Rapids, a clinic is offering an option for situations more severe than urgent care but less dire than the emergency room.
RightCare Clinic is the new cost-cutting alternative to the emergency room.
"Here we have the capacity to do things like a CAT scan, blood work, IV medications, EKG testing that you can't get at an urgent care," said Dr. Justin Bedford.
Dr. Bedford is one of the emergency physicians that started RightCare Clinic through Emergency Care Specialists. "While it's an outpatient feel of a clinic and you have an appointment, you're actually seeing the same doctor that if you go to the ER, that's the same person," Dr. Bedford said.
"If I can't get in with my PCP, then this would be my first choice every time," Rochelle Adams, RightCare Clinic patient, adds.
Adams came to RightCare Clinic with her 7-year-old son who needed a chest X-ray after an asthma flare-up. "We came to see the doctor, and then ended up getting the X-ray and had that read right while we were here," Adams said.
For Adams, RightCare Clinic is less wait and lower costs. "It's great you're paying the co-pay of seeing your PCP, but you get to go see the same providers that you're going to see in the ER," Adams said.
RightCare Clinic bills as a specialty office, so although insurance varies, it may be cheaper than going directly to the emergency room.
And if you don't have insurance, "we have a list of, like, our cash charges that we do for everything, and it's bare-bones cheaper than what a lot of people... they're very surprised, very reasonable pricing for things," Dr. Bedford said.
Dr. Bedford says when your health concerns are time sensitive, the emergency room is still the place to go. But for things too complicated for urgent care, like chest pain or pneumonia, RightCare Clinic is ready.
"I don't think anything exists like this that I know of, at least in Michigan, that falls in this kind of category," Dr. Bedford said.
RightCare Clinic is open Monday through Friday. Come March 1, their hours are changing. So, they will now be open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
For more information on RightCare Clinic, click here.
Follow FOX 17: Facebook - X (formerly Twitter) - Instagram - YouTube
