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How Do You Decide Where to Go Before You Get Sick?

By iCare

October 1, 2019

Learn about Urgent Care, Doctor visits and other choices besides the emergency room.

When you need care, the first step toward making smart choices is understanding your options. When you or a loved one needs medical care, that may not feel like the right time to research your options – or look up the names and phone numbers of health care facilities near you.

iCare suggests learning the locations of medical facilities in your area before experiencing a health crisis and recording the names and phone numbers of those locations.  Don’t forget to add the phone numbers into your cell phone of your primary care doctor, closest urgent care clinic and hospital.

 

Feeling sick? Know where to go!

Call your doctor’s office.

For preventive care or when you have a medical problem, see your doctor. Many doctors’ offices offer same day visits when you are sick. When you call for an urgent visit, make sure you explain your medical situation or how it changed since you were last seen by the doctor.

Don’t wait until you feel bad to call. You might feel better sooner.

Go to an urgent care clinic.

These are clinics with doctors where you can walk-in without an appointment. Urgent care clinics treat people the same day, have evening hours and can see you on weekends. They usually take less time than the emergency room.

Urgent care clinics can help with common symptoms or injuries like an earache, cough, sore throat, fever, minor injuries, cuts or burns, rashes or sprains.

Call the iCare 24-hour Nurse Advice Line.

iCare has its own nurse advice line. You can call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and speak to a nurse. The nurses can help you when you have questions about health concerns or need health information.

The nurse can help you decide what care to seek: call 1-800-679-9874.

Go to the emergency room.

An emergency is any medical problem that could cause death or permanent injury if not treated quickly. If your urgent care clinic is closed, you can go to the hospital emergency room. You may have to wait a long time to receive care.

Emergency services are a covered benefit. You can go to any emergency room to get treatment.

For more information, call iCare’s Customer Service at 1-800-777-4376 or visit www.iCareHealthPlan.org/FindDoctor/

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Last Updated 10/1/19

 


 

Kirk Heminger

By iCare 

iCare has been securing the wellness of people with complex conditions for over two decades.

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