Practice Management
Six years after its inception, government forecasts concerning the cost of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”) continue to climb. Now the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says the bill over the next decade will be approximately 11% higher than predicted just a year ago—that’s an extra $136 billion, for a total of $1.34 trillion over that time. The CBO chalks the greater cost up to higher-than-expected enrollment in the expanded Medicaid program established by …
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Just a week after issuing its previous advisory, the Centers for Disease Control is already refining recommended precautions men and women need to take before engaging in sexual contact or attempting to conceive. Men with potential exposure (ie, travel or residence in an active outbreak area) should not engage in unprotected sex for at least 8 weeks after the exposure ends. Advice to use condoms or abstain from sex also applies to currently pregnant women …
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Electronic health records have fostered easier access to vital information—clearly a benefit to providers and patients—but they’ve also been the font of data breaches involving the records of nearly 33 million individuals since 2009. Part of the problem lies with dishonest or inept contractors (or “business associates”) that may not have the expertise to construct proper security measures. Now those business associates are going to be targeted for HIPAA audits by the Department of Health …
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A pilot program aimed at making it easier to keep insurers’ provider directories up to date could benefit urgent care entities that contract as such—and make it harder for those that don’t to draw patients. The six-month program, sponsored by America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), will offer more than 100,000 providers in California, Indiana, and Florida the luxury of informing just one point of contact about any changes in their practice instead of having to …
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URGENT MESSAGE: As urgent care developers seek prime real estate for their medical centers, bank branches that have been vacated due to mergers may provide a high-traffic, high-visibility solution, although there are practical challenges with converting a former bank branch to an urgent care center. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Practice Management Editor of JUCM—The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine, a member of the Board of Directors of the Urgent Care Association of America, …
Read MoreThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says there have been 258 cases of Zika virus in the U.S., with 35 states reporting at least one confirmed case—up from 29 states counted just two weeks prior. Florida has seen the most (59), followed by New York (42) and Texas (34). Connecticut and New Mexico reported their first confirmed cases during that time. While most cases are still presumed to be travel-related, it is thought …
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The Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division has vowed to look “very, very carefully” at the implications of the proposed merger between Aetna and Humana. At the heart of their consideration will be how less competition among insurers will affect the price and availability of care for consumers. If the deal is ultimately approved by the government, there will be only three large, national insurance providers. A growing number of states are raising concerns about …
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Alternative sites of care—the proverbial “new front door to healthcare”—are being considered acceptable to a greater number and wider range of patients as time goes on, according to a new survey by Oliver Wyman’s Health & Life Science Practice. For purposes of the survey, those “alternative” sites include urgent care, retails clinics, and telehealth. While the benefits to the patient—greater access and power to make decisions—are self-evident, Oliver Wyman estimates at least $200 billion is …
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Runaway healthcare spending that amounts to 17.5% of the U.S. economy is inspiring some entrepreneurial insurers to launch new models aimed at bridging the gap between patients and health systems—instead of creating friction between those two interdependent parties, which some claim traditional insurers are doing. One, ZOOM+, is headed by a physician and owns its own neighborhood medical clinics. Another, Clover Health, raised $135 million in venture capital to build a company that sells only …
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Envision Healthcare Holdings, Inc. has reached an agreement to buy physician-owned Emergency Physicians Medical Group (EPMG), which staffs 37 urgent care centers and various hospital departments in six states. All told, EPMG’s 500 clinicians manage nearly a million patient encounters annually. Envision expects EPMG will contribute approximately $140 million in net revenue annually. EPMG also operates community paramedicine programs and provides telemedicine services in urgent care and postacute care operations.
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