UCA Highlights Bipartisan Effort to Encourage Use of UC

UCA Highlights Bipartisan Effort to Encourage Use of UC

The Urgent Care Association (UCA) recently led a new effort that asks the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to include policies in the forthcoming FY 2025 Physician Fee Schedule that would encourage those covered by Medicare and Medicaid to seek non-emergent care at urgent care centers. A letter written by Ann Kuster (D-NH), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Darin LaHood (R-IL), and Michael Burgess (R- TX) that was signed by 26 members of Congress from both …

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Law Doubles the Penalties for Assaulting Healthcare Workers in Michigan

Law Doubles the Penalties for Assaulting Healthcare Workers in Michigan

Michigan has 2 new laws going into effect on March 4 to combat the frightening rise in verbal and physical attacks on healthcare workers. The bipartisan bills, signed into law by the governor in December, double the penalties and fines for assaulting healthcare professionals or volunteers, according to a news item in Crain’s Grand Rapid Business. Offenders face up to a 93-day jail sentence and a $1,000 fine for assaulting workers on duty. If the …

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Oregon Seeks to Limit PE Ownership of Urgent Cares

Oregon Seeks to Limit PE Ownership of Urgent Cares

In Oregon, proposed legislation could dramatically limit corporate ownership of primary care, specialty, and urgent care clinics. Proponents say they’re concerned about the potential quality issues, staff reductions, increased costs, and the “depersonalization” of ownership they believe comes with private equity control, according to an article by Oregon Public Broadcasting. The bill’s language builds on existing rules in the state and would require clinics with corporate ownership to ensure the majority owners (51%) are physicians. …

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Regulators Consider Standard Licensing for UC Centers

Regulators Consider Standard Licensing for UC Centers

Massachusetts regulators are considering new measures to create a standard licensure for urgent care (UC) centers in the state in an effort to “apply care standards and improve quality of care,” according to the Worcester Business Journal. Officials also want the ability to collect uniform quality-of-care data from all UC operators, noting that last year, only about one-fourth of the centers in the state reported their data to the US Centers for Disease Control and …

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Telemedicine Leads to Referrals

Telemedicine Leads to Referrals

A recent JAMA Network Open Viewpoint article explored the frustrations resulting from the expiration of temporary regulatory changes that were implemented by almost all states to allow physicians to provide telehealth across state lines during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the end of the public health emergency, many licensing waivers ended as well. Some argue that licensure should remain under control of the state while others advocate for a single federal license or full …

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State Laws Guarantee PTO for Employees In 2024

State Laws Guarantee PTO for Employees In 2024

Starting January 1, 2024, employers in several states are implementing new laws regarding time off for employees. For example, in Minnesota, employers must provide paid leave under the earned sick and safe time law. Those working at least 80 hours in a year within the state—including part-time employees—are eligible for the benefit. An employee now earns a guaranteed 1 hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked up to a maximum of 48 …

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More Restrictive Abortion Laws May Cast Urgent Care in a New Role

More Restrictive Abortion Laws May Cast Urgent Care in a New Role

The ultimate effects of new abortion laws being enacted or considered across the country have yet to be realized. That doesn’t mean the wheels of state legislatures aren’t spinning solutions to emerging challenges that could result, however—and urgent care is figuring significantly in at least some. In Pennsylvania, for example, the state senate unanimously passed a bill that would decriminalize the act of a parent surrendering an unharmed newborn at an urgent care center if …

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Access to X-Rays in Urgent Care Is in Jeopardy. What Can You Do?

Access to X-Rays in Urgent Care Is in Jeopardy. What Can You Do?

X-ray services are a key factor that distinguishes urgent care centers from other walk-in healthcare facilities. So, especially in the midst of a shortage of x-ray technologists (RTs) in general, anything that threatens UC’s ability to offer imaging services could without exaggeration be viewed as a threat to the industry’s place in the healthcare system. The most current controversy is going on in Ohio, where the RT lobby is opposing a change in legislation that …

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Do Business with the Federal Government? Stop Asking About Applicants’ Criminal Histories

Do Business with the Federal Government? Stop Asking About Applicants’ Criminal Histories

In case you missed it, urgent care centers and other healthcare employers who have contracts with the federal government are now forbidden from asking prospective employees’ about their criminal history on applications or in the interview process. In fact, you’re not allowed to raise the question before you offer someone the job. The first time you’re allowed to raise the question is when you make a conditional offer of employment—after which you could open yourself …

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The Evidence Is in: Making Urgent Care Voices Heard Works

The Evidence Is in: Making Urgent Care Voices Heard Works

When the Northeast Regional Urgent Care Association Government Affairs team recognized the hazards that proposed legislation in New York posed for urgent care, they jumped into action to mobilize members to speak out. And it worked. According to a mass email from NERUCA Government Affairs Chair Jonathan S. Halpert, MD, FACEP to members and urgent care stakeholders, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office received thousands of telephone calls and emails protesting a proposed bill that …

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