Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department or Program
Economics
Advisor
Sylwester, Kevin
Abstract
Year after year, emergency department visits in the United States increase along with cost of healthcare. In an effort to combat this, urgent care facilities have become an increasingly common alternative to emergency departments. These urgent care facilities are meant as a low cost, easier to access substitute to emergency departments for the treatment of unexpected, non-life-threatening illnesses. As urgent care facilities become more common, the way in which patients chose between them has become a growing topic of interest. This paper aims to examine the effects weather and calendar variables have on emergency department and urgent care visits in Springfield, Illinois and to compare to similarities and differences between the effects.