Here’s some advice that may save you a thousand dollars or more.

Across North Texas, free-standing emergency room clinics are popping up on the suburban landscape like wildflowers in the spring. They resemble urgent-care facilities such as CareNow. But there are a couple of big differences.

The first is they have the word “Emergency” or “ER” in their title.

The second difference is their medical bills are often for thousands of dollars compared with much lower urgent-care costs.

In 2010, Texas created a new licensing law for stand-alone emergency rooms. Since then, dozens of these emergency rooms have popped up. When customers get a sticker-shock bill, they contact The Watchdog.

“We were charged a $4,688 ‘facility fee’ to see a doctor for less than five minutes,” Andrea Woslager says.

“We were in the facility for less than an hour. We received a weight check, a Popsicle, an exam, and the doctor performed a maneuver that literally took two seconds to correct my daughter’s partially dislocated elbow. The total bill? Over $10,000.”

She continues, “We inquired about the cost when we entered the facility and were told they couldn’t say.”

Randy Culpepper took his daughter to a mini-ER for an asthma treatment but his insurance company later refused to pay because the problem wasn’t deemed an emergency.

His bill is $1,600.

“I can no longer say I know the difference between an ‘urgent’ care, a CareNow, an E-Care facility or an emergency health center,” he says.

Join the club.

The good news on these stand-alone ERs is that they offer true emergency room service. They contain top-shelf medical equipment such as a CT scanner, an X-ray machine and more. There may be an in-house lab for quicker results.

The staff includes an on-duty emergency room doctor plus nurses. That’s compared with a CareNow, where a patient may be seen by a physician assistant or a nurse practitioner. For most minor ailments, though, that’s fine.

The bad news is customers, in a rush to care for an injured loved one, don’t always know the difference between an ER and an urgent-care facility.

Sometimes, an ER bill won’t be covered by insurance because the ER is out of network. But customers don’t learn that until later.

Some Blue Cross Blue Shield divisions across the nation have issued guidelines to their customers.

“Unless it’s a true emergency,” the California division informs, “you’ll likely get quicker medical care at other centers such as an urgent-care center, retail health center or walk-in doctor’s office. … And you’ll often pay much less than you would for emergency care.”

State law requires ERs to advertise that they are emergency room operations. The facilities are regulated by the Texas Department of State Health Services.

At least one insurance company is aggressively fighting back on overcharges. In a federal court case in Houston this year, Aetna won an $8 million judgment against three emergency centers and a small Houston-area hospital related to excessive charges for medical services.

These ERs can be owned by hospitals, hospital chains, private investors or doctors. Baylor Health Care System, for instance, is behind Baylor Emergency Medical Centers in Aubrey, Burleson, Keller, Colleyville, Mansfield, Murphy and Rockwall.

The Texas Association of Freestanding Emergency Centers, the chief lobbyist for the 5-year-old industry in Texas, states on its website that small ERs “charge equal or less than hospital ERs for emergency care that often exceeds the hospital ER standard.”

I’m not challenging the level of medical care provided at these new ERs. Only the bills.

The Watchdog wants customers to check the name of the business for the word “Emergency” or “ER” or even “24/7” in the title. It might not be what you need.

This month, Hospital Corp. of America announced the purchase of 24 CareNow centers in North Texas. Would HCA turn them into emergency rooms or leave them as urgent-care facilities?

“CareNow will operate just as they always have,” Kathleen Beathard of HCA North Texas says.

Phew.

Staff writer Marina Trahan Martinez contributed to this report.

Check out The Watchdog at 11:20 a.m. Monday on KXAS-TV (NBC5) talking about matters important to you.