StuWilli, Author at Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

UCA Commits to Antibiotic Stewardship

The Urgent Care Association (UCA) has outlined a framework by which it plans to guide urgent care centers to reduce inappropriate outpatient antibiotic, with an ultimate goal to curb the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. UCA’s statement notes that with urgent care clinicians treating some 160 million patients annually—many of whom think they may need an antibiotic—this setting is in a strong position to effect positive change. “UCA recognizes the vitally important role our clinicians …

New Data Show ACA Is Especially Hard on Emergency Rooms

The Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”) is driving higher volume in the emergency room at the same time it creates conditions resulting in lower availability of providers, according to a pair of new studies published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine. The end result: longer waits that frustrate patients and a patient load that clinicians may be hard pressed to keep pace with. While the studies were focused on Illinois and Massachusetts, the results …

Start Priming the Pump for Flu Shot Programs

It may seem early, but September is actually the ideal time to start promoting influenza immunization programs in your urgent care center. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all patients 6-months-old and above receive a flu shot by the end of October. In addition to traditional promotional channels like local advertising and social media, don’t forget the value of good old-fashioned human contact; let patients who come in for everyday complaints that …

Colorado to Vote on Single-Payer Health System

Payers, politicians, and practitioners don’t often line up on the same side of issues, but in Colorado they’re united in their distaste for a proposed single-payer system that would increase health coverage in the state—at the cost of a $25 billion tax increase that could drive employers out, some fear. Proponents counter that “ColoradoCare” would end up saving more than $6 billion annually by 2019. Under the program, residents would choose among private health insurance …

When Coding, Remember: ‘Necessity’ Is in the Eye of the Beholder

Providers are employing evaluation and management (E/M) code 99214 more than ever—and seeing fewer denials and higher reimbursements than in the past, ultimately. That doesn’t mean it’s open season on the higher level code (and associated higher reimbursements), however; documenting medical necessity sufficiently is still critical to ensuring the code is valid compared with the reigning most common code (99213). Operators must ensure coders understand that while a level 3 visit requires one to three …

Helping the Student Body Stay Healthy Helps Your Business

Colleges (not to mention nervous moms and dads) probably do everything they can to ensure that students know where the infirmary or student health center is located. While that’s clearly important, hours of operation tend to me somewhat limited. Students, especially those who may away from home for the first time, need to have a back-up plan when injury or illness strikes—and your urgent care center should be part of it. Ensure that it is …

Four Keys to Collecting Higher Payments in the Age of Patient Consumerism

URGENT MESSAGE: Patient expectations have changed with the evolving healthcare landscape. Urgent care operators need to keep pace in adapting their own approaches in order to collect the highest possible percentage of payments—and to survive. Randy Blue, MEd, CRCR is an Executive Director with HealthiPASS. He has over 25 years of experience in sales and marketing, specifically in the healthcare space. With high-deductible insurance plans on the rise, patients are increasingly expected to pay for …

There Ain’t No Shame in Pain

After years of lax oversight and insufficient skepticism from physicians, the United States is in an undeniable opioid epidemic, triggering seismic reforms and a regulatory frenzy. The scope of the problem is indeed staggering: Every 18 minutes, someone dies of opioid overdose, and half of those deaths involve prescription pills. Oversupply and ease of access have been identified as the main culprits, and much of the prevention strategy revolves around physician prescribing. New guidelines have …

Check Your Clinic for OTC Soaps Purported to be ‘Antibacterial’

Urgent care operators that offer over-the-counter soaps marked as “antibacterial” in restrooms or other public areas should be aware that such products can no longer be marketed in the U.S., thanks to a new ruling by the Food and Drug Administration. Sharp-eyed (and certainly germaphobic) patients and other visitors to your urgent care center may take umbrage with signage or containers making claims that the soaps are antibacterial. The FDA made the decision after a …

Back-to-School Shouldn’t Mean Back Pain

If parents bring in young children complaining of acute back pain, try taking a history that might be just a little more detailed than usual before ordering expensive images or referring. Actually, focusing on one specific question might reveal the answer: Did the onset of pain coincide with the start of the school year? If the answer is “yes,” ask for a detailed list of what goes into the child’s backpack every morning, and how …

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