When to use telehealth vs. urgent care vs. primary care vs. the ER: a quick guide for healthcare consumers

by Dr. Joel Cooper

A few years back, I published an article on Medium (https://medium.com/@joelrcooper/when-to-go-to-primary-care-urgent-care-or-the-er-b08aaef9b2c1) that discussed when healthcare consumers should use primary care vs. urgent care vs. the ER. I’m now compelled to add telehealth to the list. Since I first wrote the article, telehealth services in various forms have grown faster than sunflowers across the U.S.

Telehealth offers an attractive alternative to urgent care for patients who are too busy to go to a clinic in person, or who are fearful of doing so, given our current COVID-19 pandemic.

But like everything else in healthcare, telehealth has its place and is not without limitations.

While doctors across the range of specialties are offering their patients telehealth or so-called “virtual” consults during the COVID-19 crisis, most large national telehealth services provide quick and easy 5–10 minute virtual care that is more akin to an urgent care visit. And that’s what I mean when I use the term telehealth here.

I’ll provide ten fictional but very typical cases to help give you a better sense of which service to use when. Then, I’ll offer some additional guidance at the end of this article.

Case #1: “32-year-old female with pain when peeing.”