Freestanding Emergency Departments

Date: 06/29/21

Ambetter from Sunshine Health is your trusted partner in care. We want to make sure you know how and where to get care when you need it.

If you get sick or hurt, you have several options that are less expensive than visiting a hospital emergency room. For issues that aren’t life threatening but require immediate attention, you can find urgent care centers in our provider directory, called the Ambetter Guide.

We want you to know that some free-standing medical facilities may look like Urgent Care Centers, but they are actually freestanding Emergency Rooms and charge the same rates as hospitals. You will find freestanding Emergency Rooms under hospital listings in the Ambetter Guide, but you won’t find them under Urgent Care Centers.

Please consider these options before visiting an emergency room:

Primary Care Provider

Your PCP is your main doctor. If you don’t need medi­cal care right away, you can call the office and sched­ule your visit. You may also visit for health issues like asthma or diabetes.

Ambetter Telehealth

This is your 24-hour access to in-network Ambetter providers. It’s available when you’re at home, at work or on vacation. Get medical advice, a diagnosis or a prescription by phone or video. Set up your Ambetter Telehealth account.

Ambetter’s 24/7 Nurse Advice Line 

Connect with nurse practitioners to chat about symptoms and get advice on what to do next. Call the Nurse Advice Line any time of day or night at 1-877-687-1169 (Relay Florida 1-800-955-8770).

In-Network Urgent Care Centers

Go to these if your PCP’s office is closed and you need care for a noncritical health issue like flu symptoms with vomiting, ear infections, high fevers and sprains.

These examples show how you could save money by visiting an Urgent Care Center for less critical issues instead of an Emergency Room:

When to go to the Emergency Room: Please go to the emergency room right away for life-threatening conditions. These include issues like broken bones, bleeding that won’t stop, chest pains or heart attack symptoms, labor pains or other bleeding (if pregnant) and shock symptoms (sweat, thirst, dizziness, pale skin).

Others include drug overdose, injecting poison, bad burns, convulsions or seizures and difficulty breathing.

Find freestanding emergency departments in your community.

As a consumer protection measure, freestanding Emergency Rooms are required to post signs saying: “THIS IS A HOSPITAL EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT,” and “THIS IS NOT AN URGENT CARE CENTER. HOSPITAL EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT RATES ARE BILLED FOR OUR SERVICES.”