Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. Urgent Message: Exposure to coronavirus by an urgent care provider or staff can lead to absence from work, unplanned medical expenses, and invoke short-term disability. Take precautions and create a business infectious disease outbreak response plan that you can share with everyone at your facilities. “Wash your hands!” Anytime you …
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Pros and Cons of Urgent Care vs Primary Care Billing for Urgent Care Services
Urgent message: While it makes business sense for the minority of urgent care facilities that do contract with and bill insurance as a primary care practice, the majority contract and bill as urgent care, given higher reimbursement and the numerous other benefits this provides an urgent care operation. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care, LLC and is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. In …
Read MoreStaying in Good Stead with OSHA Starts with Maintaining Proper Records
Urgent message: Urgent care operators have a multitiered relationship with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration: as an employer required to provide a safe workplace for employees; in the context of helping occupational medicine clients maintain compliance with relevant OSHA regulations; and in maintaining through and accurate records of occ med employee cases. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is Senior Practice Management Editor of The Journal …
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Bariatric Surgery Complications in the Urgent Care Center
Urgent message: Obesity continues to be a significant health problem in the United States, with more and more patients opting for a surgical solution to their own weight loss challenges. As this trend continues, urgent care providers can expect to see more patients with post bariatric surgery complaints, ranging from the typical and benign to pulmonary emboli, anastomotic leaks, and respiratory failure account. Tracey Quail Davidoff, MD, FCUCM Obesity has become one of the …
Read MoreAbstracts in Urgent Care
Take a Seat—Your Patients Will Thank You Buddy Taping vs Plaster Casting in Boxer’s Fractures Efficacy of Baclofen in Back Pain Rapid Testing for Gonorrhea and Chlamydia Five- vs 10-day Treatment for Strep Throat A Better Screening Test for ACL Rupture Yijung Russell, MD Sitting During an Encounter Is an Easy Way to Increase Patient Satisfaction Key Point: If a provider sits during an encounter, the patient feels that they care more, listen more, inform …
Read MoreUrgent Care Is the Best Place for Patients with ‘Hypertensive Urgencies’: Why We Should Stop Sending Patients with Asymptomatically High Blood Pressure to the ED
Most public health campaigns, with a few notable exceptions, have been abject failures. One undeniably successful example, however, has been awareness of the dangers of high blood pressure. As recently as the early 1970s, when the Framingham Study was published, there was still considerable disagreement in the medical community about the risks of untreated hypertension. But in the face of mounting evidence, it soon became clear that persistently elevated blood pressure was dangerous to a …
Read MoreWhen Your Workers Comp Patient Is Reluctant to Return to Work
Urgent message: One of the occupational medicine provider’s most difficult challenges is when a patient with a work-related injury or illness is judged ready to return to full duty, but the patient resists going back to work. Max Lebow, MD, MPH, FACEP, FACPM INTRODUCTION This article will address the problem of difficult-to-discharge patients who resist returning to full duty when their work-related injury/illness has resolved. We will discuss the process of early identification of work-reluctant …
Read MoreTaking Pictures, Dog Paddling, and Apple Picking: A Metaphorical Approach to Healthy Revenue Cycle Management Metrics
You have seen all the articles about benchmarking and standard revenue cycle management metrics. The repetition of these basic articles is nauseating. This is not one of those articles. To illustrate that, let’s start by asking, what do photography, dog paddling, and apple picking have to do with your urgent care billing? Photography Standard RCM metrics are like the settings on your digital camera. Most people set the camera to Program mode (or “P” for …
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When Is Tachycardia in a Patient with URI Symptoms a Sign of Something More Serious?
Urgent message: Brugada syndrome is a genetic disorder associated with increased incidence of ventricular tachyarrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. There have been cases associated with fever, viral infections, and pneumonias—all conditions urgent care clinicians treat in abundance. This case report demonstrates how urgent care providers can diagnose a potentially lethal disorder when patients are being seen for febrile illnesses. Kathleen B. Raschka, MD Case Presentation A 55-year-old male with a history of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and …
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A 42-Year-Old Male with a New Symmetrical Rash on His Legs
The patient is a 42-year-old man who presents with a symmetrical rash of palpable purpura on his legs. He also complains of a fever and arthralgia, but denies any headache or neck pain. He also discloses current infection with the hepatitis C virus. View the image taken and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page.
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