AUSTIN, Tex., — Opting to skip the wait at hospital emergency rooms, an increasing number of Texans are choosing to use urgent care centers that are popping up in strip malls and shopping districts.

Promoting themselves as cheaper and quicker alternatives to hospital emergency rooms, the clinics cater to patients who need stitches, X-rays of broken bones or treatment of allergic reactions. Some clinics have been around for years, and about 300 open each year across the country.

The increasing number of urgent care centers is problematic for Texas hospitals. Hospitals say they are competing with the clinics for the same pool of insured Texans, at a time when they are also getting less money to cover the cost of treating uninsured patients.

“Competition is generally a good thing, but it needs to be a level playing field,” said John Hawkins, senior vice president for government relations for the Texas Hospital Association. (The association is a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune.)