Reducing Low-Acuity Preventable Emergency Room Visits by Utilizing Urgent Care Center Services via Mobile Health Unit Diversion Program

Reducing Low-Acuity Preventable Emergency Room Visits by Utilizing Urgent Care Center Services via Mobile Health Unit Diversion Program

Urgent message: Urgent care centers can execute and implement innovative ideas to ameliorate overcrowded Emergency Rooms. The creation of a mobile health diversion program to transport low acuity conditions to urgent care instead of a hospital emergency department can improve population health and reduce healthcare cost; providing the opportunity to leverage value-based care by targeting the triple aim (reducing cost, increasing patient satisfaction, and improving outcomes) while freeing up the emergency medical system services. Cesar …

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Suddenly, Retail Landlords Are Warm to the Idea of Urgent Care Tenants

Suddenly, Retail Landlords Are Warm to the Idea of Urgent Care Tenants

Time was that retail shopping centers and other commercial spaces were off limits to urgent care operators searching for new locations. The presumption was that a medical facility would not only fail to attract foot traffic, but might even drive away shoppers who didn’t want to run into possibly contagious people on their way into Old Navy or coming out of Panera on their way back to work. Fast forward to 2022 and real estate …

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Update: Subvariant BA.2, Not Omicron Overall, May Be the Culprit in Disproportionate Deaths

Update: Subvariant BA.2, Not Omicron Overall, May Be the Culprit in Disproportionate Deaths

Just last week we shared the odd phenomenon that while many patients infected with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 have escaped serious illness, daily deaths have increased since it became the dominant type of SARS-CoV-2 infection, especially in patients 75 years of age and older. Now preliminary data released by BioRxiv indicates that it might not be Omicron so much as its recently discovered subvariant BA.2 that’s to blame. The researchers found that hamsters infected …

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Pandemic Woes Haven’t Dampened the Outlook for Urgent Care Growth

Pandemic Woes Haven’t Dampened the Outlook for Urgent Care Growth

Urgent care as an industry was on a steady growth path before February 2019. It wouldn’t be surprising to learn that subsequent low patient volumes and getting shut out of early distribution of COVID-19 testing supplies and vaccinations, respectively, put a damper on expectations for further progress—but that’s not the case. In fact, urgent care operators’ collective resilience and creativity in adapting to changing conditions (such as setting up testing or vaccination events in parking …

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Update: COVID-19 Vaccination Does More Than Minimize Risk for Infection and Severe Illness

Update: COVID-19 Vaccination Does More Than Minimize Risk for Infection and Severe Illness

Patients who opt to receive the full complement of COVID-19 vaccine not only lower their risk for infection or serious illness if they do wind up getting sick, but also receive extra protection against long COVID, according to the results of a study released by the U.K. Health Security Agency. The report drew data from 15 studies in the United Kingdom and around the world. Seven of those studies looked at whether vaccination against COVID-19 …

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Skip the Chatter and Focus on the Research When It Comes to Ivermectin

Skip the Chatter and Focus on the Research When It Comes to Ivermectin

From Facebook rants to podcasts hosts to outlier physicians, there is a vocal minority of Americans who believe that ivermectin is a viable and underutilized therapy for patients with COVID-19. As is most often the case, that does not necessarily reflect the best evidence-based practice. JAMA Internal Medicine just published an article that could be helpful in separating fact from misinformation and disinformation. The study on which the article was based randomized subjects to receive …

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Lower Temperatures Mean Higher Incidence of Slip-and-Fall Injuries. Are Your Prepared?

Lower Temperatures Mean Higher Incidence of Slip-and-Fall Injuries. Are Your Prepared?

With the mainstream (and medical) media focus on the COVID-19 pandemic, it can be easy to overlook the fact that everyday illness and injuries still occur. With most of the country experiencing winter temperatures, for example, that may be especially true of cold weather-related complaints right now. As noted in a report aired on KSDK TV in Missouri, urgent care will likely be the right setting for many such patients. That story featured quotes from …

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Be Alert for Patients at Risk for Ischemic Stroke; COVID Infection Could Put Them Over the Top

Be Alert for Patients at Risk for Ischemic Stroke; COVID Infection Could Put Them Over the Top

Respiratory sequelae may not be the only (or even the most dangerous) consequence of COVID-19 infection in patients with hypertension, atrial fibrillation, or any condition that puts them at elevated risk for ischemic stroke. According to data presented at the International Stroke Conference in New Orleans, as reported by Medscape, that risk is “significantly elevated” in the 3 days immediately following infection. The data were drawn from assessment of the cases of more than 19,000 …

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Want Patients to Know When and Where to Find You? Make Sure You’re Up to Date on Your Web Presence

Want Patients to Know When and Where to Find You? Make Sure You’re Up to Date on Your Web Presence

A patient Googles “urgent care near me” and sees your location among the top three results. Even better, they see that your center is on their way home and open until 8. And yet, when they get to your place at 7:25 they find the posted hours say you closed at 7. Here’s the problem in this hypothetical—but very real life—scenario: Even if your website is up to date web crawlers can still “find” and …

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Go About It the Wrong Way and COVID Testing Could Cost You in a Number of Ways

Go About It the Wrong Way and COVID Testing Could Cost You in a Number of Ways

Offering COVID-19 testing services could engender good will and bring new patients to your practice—or it could lead to disappointment, lost opportunity, or even legal scrutiny. In New York, the attorney general has warned various entities who advertise a specific turnaround time on COVID-19 tests that they’d better make good on their promises or face stiff consequences. In the Midwest, federal health officials as well as investigators from several states are investigating the practices of …

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