Nobody likes to get sick or injured, but the situation is even worse when you fall ill outside of your doctor’s normal office hours. Emergency rooms are expensive, and come with long waits and limited treatment options.

Thankfully, your local urgent care center can do everything the emergency room can do and more. Advanced urgent care is quicker, less expensive, and offers an overall better experience than emergency rooms. Visiting a great urgent care clinic will have you in and out in no time, with the treatment you need to feel better and avoid scheduling an appointment that forces you to miss work or school. Here are three of the best advantages to visiting your local urgent care center instead of the emergency room:

Faster. When you’re suffering enough to seek medical treatment, sitting in a waiting room for hours on end can make the problem exponentially worse. An estimated 60% of all urgent care centers have a wait time of 15 minutes or less to see a physician. You waste valuable recovery time waiting for hours in an emergency room, and surrounding yourself with other sick people is the last thing you want to do. Your local urgent care center is designed to expedite the treatment process and provide almost instant relief to your problems.

Cheaper. If there is anything worse than emergency room wait times, it’s the cost of going to one. Most insurance co-pays can end up charging up upwards of $100 for an emergency room visit that often just provides you with temporary relief until you see your normal doctor, which could be days or weeks. Urgent care centers cost much less than the emergency room, and they can give you the treatment you need to feel better immediately.

All-inclusive. Perhaps the biggest advantage that urgent care has over the emergency room is its ability to diagnose and treat just about any health issue you’re experiencing. About 70% of urgent care centers can provide intravenous fluids when needed, and 80% provide fracture care. In addition to offering onsite treatments, urgent care also offers everything else involved in the process of visiting a doctor. About 40% of urgent care centers use electronic prescription ordering systems, with computerized system used for viewing lab and imaging results, collecting patient demographics, billing, and clinical notes.

There are just a few of the many advantages to visiting your local urgent care center instead of the emergency room. Find one in your area and save their contact information for the next time a medical emergency happens to you or a loved one.