Practice Management
Urgent message: Many urgent care centers lack an inventory management process and do not accurately account for their utilization of supplies. Improving how a center manages and accounts for supplies can have a direct impact on the bottom line. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc Practice Velocity Introduction A quick and easy way to improve your urgent care center’s profitability may be as close as your supply closet. Many urgent care centers lack defined processes for …
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Urgent message: Response to a needlestick with potential for HIV exposure requires understanding of both state laws on HIV testing and the latest USPSTF guidelines for post-exposure management. MAYA HECK, MS-2 and JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEPTwo police officers arrive at your urgent care site with a handcuffed, bloodied prisoner. One officer tells you that the person in custody “spit on me” during the altercation. The officer goes on to tell you that the …
Read MoreLee A. Resnick, MD, FAAFP The discipline of urgent care medicine remains in its developmental infancy. While the strong consumer-driven market lurching toward efficient and cost-effective health care delivery systems has supported astounding industry growth, our discipline continues to struggle to define itself. Like all new specialties, urgent care medicine has, in fits and starts, made efforts to evolve an identity, but despite early gains, it’s been an up and down effort. Most every urgent …
Read MoreAuthor: Selim Sikander Kabir, MBBS, FCUCP, FRNZCG. Selim Sikander Kabir is a Director and Medical Officer at Medicross Urgent Care Clinic in New Plymouth, New Zealand, and an Executive Committee Member of The College of Urgent Care Physicians. Abstract Prolonged travel has long been known to be associated with venous thromboembolism (VTE) with potential cost to health running into billions of dollars. A review was done of the current literature to assess the risk and …
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This x-ray was taken on a 3-year-old boy with a blow to his right elbow. View the image taken (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis would be.
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This x-ray was taken on a 20-year-old woman who had presented 4 hours earlier with epigastric pain and a soft abdomen. The symptoms improved with Maalox but she returned because of persistent vomiting. View the image taken (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis would be.
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Urgent message: Needlestick injuries are common and require a prompt response based on an understanding of the latest USPHS guidelines and informed consent and counseling of the patient. MAYA HECK, MS-2 and JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP Your center is fortunate to contract with a variety of different business to provide employee health services. A local homeless shelter is one of the clients to whom your center provides new hire physicals, drug screens and …
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This x-ray was taken on a 58-year-old woman with a history of “recurrent pneumonia” and bilateral infiltrates that did not resolve with antibiotics. 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). In …
Read MoreDAVID STERN, MD (Practice Velocity) Q. We perform a lot of IV infusions in our urgent care facility. Sometimes we also perform IV pushes and hydration at the same time as the infusion. We have been billing CPT codes 36000, 96365 -59, 96360 -59, and 96374 -59. Medicare pays for these codes when we append the -59 modifier but I am concerned that this may not be the correct way to bill after reviewing some …
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