Nine Things People Get Wrong About Freestanding Emergency Rooms

Some of these are straightforwardly wrong. Two of them are partly right, and
we have said so — an article that answers nine questions with nine
reassurances is not worth reading.

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1. "It's basically an urgent care that's open late."

No, and this is the one that costs people money.

A freestanding emergency room is an emergency room.
You are seen by a board-certified physician, and CT, X-ray and a full
laboratory are on site.
It bills at emergency rates, because it is one.

What you get for emergency rates is the thing that makes them emergency
rates: imaging and a laboratory in the building, a physician rather than a
referral, and an open door at every hour of the year. We would rather tell
you the cost up front than have you meet it in an envelope — and
HealthPass pays members' out-of-pocket costs, including for visits already
behind them.
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2. "You need an appointment."

No. There is nothing to book and nobody to get a referral from. Walk in, any
hour, any day. If you are looking at a booking form on an emergency room's
website, something is wrong with the website.

3. "It's only for life-threatening emergencies."

No — but it is for emergencies.

Chest pain that turns out to be reflux was still worth checking. A fracture is
not life-threatening and belongs here because it needs an X-ray. You are not
expected to know which it is before you arrive, and Arizona coverage rules
are written around what a reasonable person would have thought, not what it
turned out to be.

The line is about seriousness and what the answer needs, not about whether you
might die.

4. "They'll just send you to a hospital anyway." — Partly true

Most people are treated here and go home. Some need a transfer, and that is
the model rather than a failure of it.

If you need admission, surgery, or hospital-level inpatient care, we stabilise
you and arrange the transfer. For a time-critical problem the minutes spent
being assessed and stabilised close to home are still minutes saved — the
sequence runs through here, it does not restart.

What would be dishonest is implying it never happens. It does. Knowing that
in advance is better than discovering it during a difficult evening.

5. "You need insurance."

No. Everyone who arrives is assessed and receives an emergency medical
screening, whatever they can pay. Paying for yourself means a cash-pay form —
filled in while you wait, never a condition of being seen. We take cash, cheque
and card, and if you need financial assistance or a payment plan, that is a
conversation the billing team has every day. (480) 339-4825.

6. "It's more expensive than a hospital ER."

We are not going to claim we are cheaper, because that depends on your plan,
your deductible and your visit.

What we will commit to: we do not balance bill any patient, ever, and you will
never pay more than your in-network deductible and coinsurance here, whoever
insures you. We are out of network with all plans, and for emergency care that
does not cost you more. The detail, with sources

7. "It isn't staffed the way a hospital ER is."

You are seen by a board-certified physician, every visit, at every hour —
with no overnight or weekend arrangement where that stops being true.

The honest footnote: not every physician here is boarded in emergency
medicine specifically. Alongside emergency physicians we bring in doctors from
other specialties with emergency experience, and we train them for the
transition. We would rather tell you that than round it up.
Our care team

8. "The lab and scanner aren't really staffed overnight." — Fair question

They are. Imaging and the laboratory are staffed on site around the
clock — people in the building running the machines, not an on-call
technologist being woken at home.

And the equipment is here — CT, X-ray and a full laboratory, in this building
rather than at a hospital you would have to be sent to, with ultrasound called in
from a mobile service. Both
halves matter at 3am: the machines being here is what makes answers possible
during your visit, and the people being here is what makes the machines usable.

This is a reasonable thing to be sceptical about — plenty of facilities are
"24/7" in the sense that the doors are unlocked — so it is worth asking
wherever you go.

9. "They can't treat children."

We treat children every day. We are not a pediatric emergency room, and
we say so plainly — but El Mirage and the cities around it have a lot of young
families, and a large share of who comes through the door is children: fevers,
falls, breathing trouble, scorpion stings.

If a child's condition is severe, or you cannot travel safely, call 911.

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El Mirage ER — open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
12000 N El Mirage Rd, El Mirage, AZ 85335 · (480) 237-4922
Walk in. No appointment, no referral.
If this is a medical emergency, call 911.

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