Practice Management
Urgent Message: Urgent care providers in coastal areas need to be prepared to treat stingray envenomation. Immersion in water heated to a precise temperature is the key to pain relief. Authors: George Kamajian, DO, and Blake Singletary, OMS3 George Kamajian, DO, is a Medical Director at Largo Clinic and Adjunct Professor of Emergency Medicine at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Largo, FL. Blake Singletary, OMS4, is a 4th year medical student at Lake …
Read MoreLee A. Resnick, MD, FAAFP Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part column that examines ways to reduce liability in the urgent care setting. Our discipline is evolving rapidly and best practices are beginning to be defined. Staying abreast of practice standards for urgent care and implementing a disciplined risk mitigation plan will help your practice avoid the disruptive burdens of a medical malpractice lawsuit. The urgent care approach to risk management should …
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The pathology on this x-ray represents an incidental finding in a patient. View the image taken (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis would be.
Read MoreThese data from the 2012 Urgent Care Industry Benchmarking Study are based on a sample of 1,732 urgent care centers; 95.2% of the respondents were UCA members. Among other criteria, the study was limited to centers that have a licensed provider onsite at all times; have two or more exam rooms; typically are open 7 days/week, 4 hours/day, at least 3,000 hours/year; and treat patients of all ages (unless specifically a pediatric urgent care).
Read MoreQ. Is there a defined set of diagnosis codes for urgent care services and is there a diagnosis code that indicates the services were urgent? A. All facilities use the same set of ICD-9 codes to report the patient’s diagnosis. There are no diagnosis codes to represent urgent care services, but there are certain procedure codes you can use to indicate that services were rendered in an urgent care clinic and also procedure codes to …
Read MoreReconsidering antibiotics for COPD exacerbation Key point: Prescribing antibiotics to patients with mild-to-moderate COPD exacerbations who have no change in sputum probably is unnecessary. Citation: Miravitlles M, Moragas A, Hernandez S, et al. Is it possible to identify exacerbations of mild to moderate COPD that do not require antibiotic treatment? Chest. 2013;144(5): 1571-1577. The decision to prescribe antibiotics to patients with moderate to mild-to-moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations is usually based on increased …
Read MoreJOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP with ANDREW SNIEGOWSKI, RN, JD CANDIDATE 2014 Over the last 6 years I have written a number of articles on medical malpractice in urgent care medicine. The good news is that I am seeing fewer cases despite the fact that there are more urgent care centers and more patient visits. The bad news is that I am still seeing the same fact patterns time and again. Failure to diagnose …
Read MoreLee A. Resnick, MD, FAAFP I first wrote about the disaster that is Maintenance of Certification (MOC) in June 2012. As a refresher, MOC was adopted by all 24 American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) member boards in 2006. The move was promoted under the guise of a commitment to quality care and best practices. Despite no clear evidence that MOC works to achieve these goals, the requirements were adopted without debate. That’s right, the …
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Urgent message: With the epidemic of obesity and recent FDA-approval of weight loss drugs, urgent care providers should be on alert for patient presentations related to side effects of these agents. Introduction An estimated 154.7 million Americans over the age of 20 are currently overweight or obese. These Americans are at increased risk of disease, including diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, end-stage renal disease and cancer. If current trends remain unchanged, an estimated $861 to $957 …
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