Can you use urgent care as a primary doctor?

Urgent care is for people who need to be treated urgently, but can’t, for whatever reason, get to their primary, or who need to be seen immediately without an appointment (which is why a lot of times, urgent care will refer quite a few people to the ER – it’s basically a step down from that). In my case, I just went when I thought my UTI wasn’t taken care of by the antibiotics my doctor prescribed. I went because I wouldn’t have been able to see my primary again until four days later.

Anyway, I’ve never heard of anyone using an urgent care doctor as their primary. But it might be possible if he practices anywhere else, so at the very least, you could consider asking him because you’re curious if he accepts patients anywhere. If you liked him and he helped you figure out something important, asking him is definitely worth it. But yes, you won’t be able to do it through the urgent care, because your hunch was right – the doctor you see at urgent care is random, and you can’t request a specific person.

@DrasticDreamer It’s funny you responded first, because my problem was a UTI. I was thinking about going back to your recent Q to blame you for my illness LOL. I haven’t had a UTI in over 20 years.

No, urgent care doctors are not primary care doctors. Urgent care is where you go when you need to be seen, can’t get in to see your primary doctor, and your problem is not bad enough to go to the ER. It is unlikely that you will see that doctor again unless it is a very small facility. You can’t make appointments at urgent care or choose which doctor you see.

You were very lucky, because every urgent care doctor I’ve ever seen has acted like any ER doctor I’ve ever seen – attentive enough, but not interested in spending much time talking with me. It’s very much a “get in and get out” type of place unless they determine you need to go to the ER or see a specialist.

However, some people do sort of use urgent care doctors as primary care doctors, but these are usually people with no insurance that only see a doctor when it’s urgent, and so they have no primary care doctor. That’s not what urgent care is for, though.

It depends on the doctor and the clinic. One of the walk-in clinics in my town was around long before the term “urgent care clinic” came into popular use. It is listed under “urgent care” and does everything an “urgent care” clinic does. The doctor there is my primary, the main difference being that I can’t make an appointment, and occasionally a more “urgent” case will get seen before me in the line.
A friend of mine has, as his primary, a doctor in a clinic whose signage declares it’s “Urgent Care”.

Unless your state has some specific statutes about this, I see no reason why not. Ask the doctor if he’s willing, and be prepared to wait on occasion if someone sicker than you comes in.

Having known almost nothing about the way health centers work, I just found a new place for a PCP. I went in and asked to see a PCP and the lady gave me an appointment the next day! So, I went in the next day and the receptionist said that they only had urgent care today. I felt bad because it wasn’t urgent (just an annual). When I went to the office, it was a nurse practitioner who told me she’ll only be seeing me this one time. It kinda sucked to hear that.
Moral of the story is that no, at this pace, urgent care doctors didn’t see regulars, just “urgents”. At the pediatrician I used to see, I remember going in and seeing PCPs for urgent things. It wasn’t always my pediatrician, though.
They also billed me $30. I guess the receptionist missed the “annual” part entirely. The nurse practitioner I saw also mentioned that the receptionists never know what they’re doing.

I advise calling and speaking to that doctor, and ask him if he has offices elsewhere where he sees patients. Tell him you thought he gave good service and would like to be able to see him on a regular basis. Maybe he’ll tell you a way you can utilize him even if he does not have offices elsewhere.

I do think I would prefer to see a doctor who runs his business, rather than a doctor who works for an urgent care “chain.”

All your answers thus far have been very helpful.

This doctor was older, I’m guessing in his 60’s. It has me wondering if he is just doing this part time as a way to stay in the game, but not have the burden of a lot of the administrative crap. Or, maybe as some of you suggest, he might have another office, but I don’t see why a doctor would bother working urgent care if he did?

Was this clinic part of a chain? If not, it could be his only venue, therefore his “office” of sorts.
Definitely ask him if this option is open to you, the worst he could do is say “no”, and he might be able to reccomend some local internists if that’s the case.

It depends. I kind of can because my PCP works at a clinic that has both Urgent Care and “regular” practice, and that clinic is part of a large local hospital that is one of the top hospitals in the US (#11 in the rankings this year). If I need medical attention urgently but not so bad I need an ER, I can still go to the same office. Odds are that I will wind up with one of the other doctors in the same clinic, but it’s still the same provider as far as insurance is concerned anyways.

But that’s not always how it goes. When I lived in NH, there was no such thing as “Urgent Care”; it was either appointment or ER. Enough depends on how the place is set up that it’s hard to give a straight answer.

If you have a need to see a doctor for something minor you could call the urgent care and see if that specific doctor is on staff that day. The urgent care I use has two doctors on staff and I’ve been lucky enough to end up with the same doctor for each visit.

The only restrictions I had in the past when using urgent care was when my children used Medicaid. Medicaid requires you to contact your pcp first and they will only see you if your pcp can’t take you that day.

I’ve used urgent care quit a bit because it’s almost impossible to get a same day or next day appointment with any doctor i’ve seen the past 5 years.

I use an urgent care doctor as my primary doctor, and he’s very good. His schedule is posted on the company’s website, and I simply plan to go when he will be there, then let the receptionist know that I need to see him specifically. If I would have an emergency, I still go there, because then they have all my records.

As others have said, see if he has an office. I wouldn’t use an urgent care as my primary care physician because typically, in my state, those doctors are the ones that graduated at the bottom of their class. I’m not saying all, but most.

My urgent care is affiliated with my hospital and all the doctors are part of the Sutter medical group. They are not primary care physicians but there for emergencies that are not life threatening and that occur before or after normal office hours. I went to my urgent care Sunday for a horrible sinus/ear infection that had been brewing for about a week with the allergy scene here. Of course I was sick as a dog by Sat. night so went to UC Sunday morning.

Same thing, I really liked the doctor, he was competent, personable, humorous and really nice. It’s always the way it goes. My PCP is a women and while thorough she is always hurried and one of “those” overly serious types. Gah!

This guy was SO FUNNY, as sick as I felt we carried on about quite a few things.
He actually said ( totally won me over ) that he is always telling his colleagues that if he can’t have FUN practicing medicine he is done. haha
My kinda guy.

Many physicians go into urgent care because they don’t want to do primary care.

A lot of urgent care doctors also have a private practice. I know my doctor also works at an urgent care. It’s worth asking if you two seemed to click.

He might also be retired from having his own practice with all the headaches of having his own facility, staffing issues and billing issues and now pick up a couple of days (or nights) working in the Urgent Care.

@JLeslie: Please let us know what you choose to do and how it works out for you.

Thank you.
JCA
The Update Lady

You might also ask him for a likeminded referral.