The American healthcare system is a far cry from what it used to be, and that’s a good thing. Prior to the urgent medical care movement, which began nearly 40 years ago, healthcare was pretty simple in that it was black and white: hospitals and primary care physician offices. However, when the urgent care movement began to gain traction — and make money — the healthcare industry was changed for the better.

Urgent care centers are designed to bridge the broad gap between the level of care administered by hospital emergency departments and primary care physician offices. While emergency room treatment typically focuses on the acute condition, injury, or illness at hand, primary care physicians are more concerned with one’s overall and general well being.

As for urgent care facilities, well, they’re somewhere in the middle — right where they belong.

Urgent medical care and urgent care services, while similar to emergency care in that they both address acute illness and conditions, are not at all designed to be a replacement to the care an emergency room can provide.

In fact, many patients who have a true medical emergency, seek treatment at an urgent care center that is not adequately equipped to address their condition. As result, they must immediately be triaged to a hospital. In true life or death circumstances, what seems like an innocent mistake or misunderstanding can actually prove fatal.

However, the confusion that does exist is very much understandable. As urgent care centers continue to become more prevalent, they’ve also expanded their repertoire of services. Many urgent care facilities offer similar services to both hospital emergency rooms and primary care physician offices, such as lab services, x rays, onsite dispensaries and more.

In addition, it’s common for many urgent care centers to treat injuries such as broken bones, concussions, burns, and cuts that require stitching. As a result, this has a created a grey area that many patients find difficult to navigate.