These standalone ERs are so shady. I took my 15 year old daughter for a COVID rapid antigen nasal swab yesterday after a possible exposure last weekend. She had thrown up once the night before and reported feeling lightheaded after vomiting, and since she had been babysitting for my sister who is currently in a high-risk pregnancy, I wanted to look into getting her tested. I called signature ER who had been bombarding me with google ads. They got my insurance information over the phone, and told me the ER copay was $250, so I said no thanks (as I could get her a PCR test for free from her PCP). The receptionist quickly said, “oh okay we’ll only collect $100 of the copay.” Me: “I think that’s insurance fraud?” She says, “I don’t think so.” Ok, whatever—worth $100 for me to have a test result in “fifteen minutes” rather than 5 business days. I drive to Killeen and check in. Intake person has zero PPE. No gloves, no mask, nothing. I pay my $100, sign a bunch of documents and then park in the designated spot. We wait for an hour, and a second intake person (LVN I think) comes to interview my daughter through the car window. Again—no mask. Just going car to car interviewing people there for COVID testing. Wait for another hour and a nurse comes (finally someone with a paper mask) and does the vital signs and nasal swab. Wait for a third hour and the ER physician comes out and tells us test is negative. He listens to her chest, and asks her about being lightheaded after vomiting. He then tells me she needs further testing to figure out why she was lightheaded and vomited. “What kind of testing?” “CBC and lipid panel, EKG and chest x-ray.” “Wow! For vomiting? Did you hear something in her chest that makes you think we need an x-ray?” “No I couldn’t really hear anything because of the noise with the car running. My recommendation is to get admitted for further testing.” “Ok I’ll make her an appointment with her primary care physician.” “That’s fine, but since you’re leaving against my recommendation you’ll have to sign this affidavit saying that you understand you’re leaving against medical advice, and you won’t hold me responsible if she dies or has some adverse effects from forgoing testing.” “For real, dude? You go to 11 years of school to come out here and shill EKGs in the parking lot?” I’m sure they’re not all like that, but dayum. How do you sleep at night?