(828) 673-8629
Mon-Fri: 8am-7:30pm
Sat-Sun: 10am-6pm
(833) 487-9316
Customer service for
billing questions
Mon-Fri: 8am-7:30pm
Sat-Sun: 10am-6pm
Customer service for
billing questions
These are the questions our team in Hickory hears most often — about insurance and Medicaid, our on-site X-rays, and how to tell whether you need urgent care or the emergency room.
Still not sure? Call us at (828) 673-8629 and we’ll help you figure out the right place to go, even if that place isn’t us.
Do not drive yourself. Do not wait to read the rest of this page.
Emergency rooms are required by federal law to examine and stabilize you regardless of your ability to pay or your insurance status. If you are having an emergency, cost should not be part of the decision.
Urgent care treats illnesses and injuries that need attention today but aren’t life-threatening — things like sprains, cuts, fevers, infections, and minor fractures. Emergency rooms handle life- or limb-threatening conditions and are open around the clock with surgical teams and advanced imaging on hand.
For most everyday problems, urgent care is faster and costs less. The tools are different, too: an ER has CT, MRI, and an operating room. We have digital X-ray, on-site lab testing, and providers trained in emergency medicine — which covers the large majority of what walks through the door.
Go to the ER — or call 911 — for chest pain, stroke symptoms, trouble breathing, severe bleeding, major head injuries, severe abdominal pain, or any injury involving a bone through the skin. When symptoms are severe, sudden, or getting worse quickly, the ER is the right call.
A useful rule: if you’re asking whether it’s serious enough for the ER, and the symptom came on suddenly or is worsening by the hour, choose the ER. Our team is emergency medicine trained, so we’d rather you err toward safety than toward saving time.
Yes — usually by a wide margin. An urgent care visit for the same complaint typically costs a fraction of an emergency room visit. ER bills also often arrive in two parts: a hospital facility fee plus a separate charge from the physician who treated you.
Our self-pay visit is $165, which includes your office visit plus one X-ray (or one COVID, flu, or strep test, or select blood work). No facility fee. You’ll get the price before treatment starts, not weeks later in the mail.
Yes, for most simple fractures. We take the X-ray on-site, confirm the break, splint or immobilize it, manage your pain, and refer you to an orthopedic specialist for follow-up. Complex or open fractures — bone through skin, or a visibly deformed limb — need an emergency room.
Fingers, toes, wrists, ankles, and forearms are the fractures we see and treat most often.
Urgent care waits are typically well under an hour. Emergency rooms triage by severity, so a non-life-threatening problem can mean waiting several hours while more critical patients go first — even if you arrived before them.
You can save your spot online before you come in, which cuts your time in the waiting room further. Walk-ins are always welcome.
We’ll evaluate you, begin any treatment we safely can, and arrange transfer to the appropriate emergency department right away. Because our providers come from emergency medicine backgrounds, recognizing which patients need a higher level of care is core to how we practice.
You will never be turned away at the door without being seen.
No — chest pain should be treated as an emergency. Call 911 immediately, especially if it comes with sweating, nausea, shortness of breath, or pain spreading to your arm, jaw, or back. Do not drive yourself.
Even chest pain that turns out to be minor needs testing that an emergency department is equipped to run quickly. This is one where we’d always rather you go straight to the ER.
Urgent care is appropriate for most childhood illnesses and injuries — fevers, ear infections, sore throats, rashes, minor cuts, and sprains. Go to the ER for trouble breathing, a fever in an infant under 3 months, seizures, head injuries, dehydration with no wet diapers, or unusual drowsiness.
If your child seems unusually limp, unresponsive, or hard to wake, treat that as an emergency regardless of any other symptom.
They overlap, but urgent care generally offers more. Many walk-in and retail clinics handle only minor illnesses and can’t do imaging. We provide on-site digital X-ray, lab testing, stitches, and minor procedures, with emergency medicine trained providers on staff.
Yes. We clean, close, and dress lacerations on-site, with attention to minimizing scarring. Deep wounds involving tendons, nerves, or arteries — or bleeding that won’t stop with firm pressure — need an emergency room.
Most cuts close best within several hours of the injury, so don’t wait to be seen.
No. Walk in any time we’re open. You can also save your spot online, which lets you wait at home instead of in our lobby.
Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 7:30pm. Saturday and Sunday, 10:00am to 6:00pm.
We are not a 24-hour facility. If you need care outside these hours and it can’t wait until we open, go to the nearest emergency department — or call 911 if it’s an emergency.
Yes — we have digital X-ray on-site at our Hickory location. You don’t need to travel to a hospital or imaging center. Your images are taken and reviewed during your visit, so you leave knowing what’s wrong and what happens next.
Having imaging in the building is the difference between one visit and three. Most patients who come in with an injury are X-rayed, diagnosed, and treated in a single stop.
A single X-ray is $85 on its own. Most patients do better with our bundled self-pay visit: $165 covers your office visit plus one X-ray. Every price is quoted upfront, before treatment begins.
Compare that to a hospital emergency department, where imaging is billed on top of a facility fee and a separate physician charge.
We image extremities and other common injury sites — hands, fingers, wrists, forearms, elbows, feet, toes, ankles, knees, and chest.
The radiation dose from a standard X-ray is very low. A chest X-ray delivers roughly the same radiation you’d absorb from the natural environment over about ten days. An X-ray of a hand, foot, or other extremity is a small fraction of even that.
Tell your provider if you are or might be pregnant. It rarely changes whether imaging happens, but it does change how we shield and position you.
No referral, no appointment. Walk in, be evaluated, and if imaging is needed we do it during the same visit. You can save your spot online to shorten your wait.
We do not offer standalone imaging without an exam — a provider needs to evaluate you to know what to image and how to read it in context.
No. CT and MRI are hospital and imaging-center services. If your evaluation suggests you need one, we’ll tell you directly and help you get to the right place rather than sending you home to figure it out.
Yes. You can request copies of your images and records. Ask at the front desk during your visit, or call us at (828) 673-8629.
Yes. HighER Level Urgent Care accepts NC Medicaid, along with Medicare and most major insurance plans.
Because coverage details change and vary by plan, we recommend calling us at (828) 673-8629 with your card in hand before your visit if you want your coverage confirmed in advance.
Very little. Under NC Medicaid, the highest copay for any service is $4, and many services have no copay at all. Preventive care carries no copay.
Many members owe nothing. You do not have a monthly premium with NC Medicaid, and most of your visit cost is covered directly.
Several groups are exempt from NC Medicaid copays entirely, including members under age 21, pregnant members (including all pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care), family planning services, members in the NC Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program, federally recognized tribal members and those receiving Indian Health Services, and members residing in an institution.
If you’re not sure whether a copay applies to you, ask us — or call the member services number on your Medicaid card.
Medically necessary imaging ordered during your visit is generally covered under NC Medicaid. Your provider determines whether an X-ray is needed based on your exam.
If you have questions about what your specific plan covers, call the member services number on your card.
Yes. We accept Medicare along with Medicaid and most major commercial insurance plans.
We offer transparent self-pay pricing, quoted before treatment begins. A self-pay visit starts at $125, and $165 covers your visit plus one X-ray, COVID/flu/strep test, or select blood work.
We also offer financial assistance for patients who qualify — including a sliding fee scale based on income and household size, payment plans, and hardship discounts. Ask our billing team.
Bring a photo ID, your insurance or Medicaid card, a list of any medications you take, and a form of payment for any copay. If the visit is for a child, a parent or legal guardian should come along.
For a work-related injury, bring your employer’s workers’ compensation information.