(SMITHFIELD) -- Would you rather spend four hours and fifteen hundred dollars in the emergency room or one hour and 140 bucks at urgent care? Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina is hoping you'll choose an urgent care clinic.

They're working with FastMed Urgent Care to expand their locations around the state. Spokeswoman Michelle Douglas says it should save all of their customers money.

"We know that if we could get just 5% of people who are using the emergency room for non-emergency conditions to choose an urgent care center instead we could save about 8 million dollars every year."

Douglas says those savings would reduce the cost of premiums for their policy holders