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It also means that emergency rooms can be used just for emergencies and ongoing and preventative care can happen in clinics. Cheaper to operate and preventing preventable emergencies lowers the load.

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Here's what happens in my locale. If you show up in an ER, they quickly decide whether you need emergency care, or regular urgent care, delivered in the same facility. And medicine is anything if not statistical, so they know the amount of each kind of service that they need to plan for.

In my locale urgent care is only open from like 9am-4pm on weekdays, reduced hours on Saturdays, and closed on Sundays.

I could make observations about who tends to be there at either but that might rustle some jimmies.

My jimmies are hard to rustle. I'm fortunate that I have flexible hours, and can leave work if I need to visit a clinic. If either of my adult kids gets sick, they start making calls to find someone who can take their shift. So I suspect it boils down to individual or family circumstances.

Usually tied to employer coverage contracts, and with strictly limited menu of offerings for patient health needs.

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