"Across the six states studied, researchers found that the existence of an urgent care center in a zip code reduced the number of [emergency department] visits by about 17 percent.... [T]he authors estimate that urgent care centers save about $3.3 billion annually.... [T]his number does not consider other ways in which urgent care centers might offset those savings by, for example, encouraging new health care use or acting as a substitute for lower-cost primary care clinics."  MORE >>