New Coding Rules: Triumph or Turmoil?

In July 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services made its first proposals to overhaul the primary payment methodology for outpatient services in over 20 years. In an attempt to simplify documentation, bill submission, and compliance requirements, CMS made a bold move that will materially change the way physicians and advanced practice providers (APPs) manage their clinical work flows. In essence, the recommendation was to eliminate the variable payments for the different Evaluation and …

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Advanced Practitioners Help Advance the Urgent Care Cause

By the year 2030, the expected shortfall of primary care physicians ranges between 14,800 and 49,300.¹ Under the influence of a growing and aging population, the next decade promises to put extraordinary pressure on the physician workforce. To make matters worse, physician reimbursement remains stagnant or in decline. While there remains modest growth in the total number of physicians in the U.S., demand is outpacing supply, and the gap between primary care and specialty care …

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Narcan or Narcan’t: An Ethical Dilemma for a Modern Scourge

With opiate abuse and overdose rates at epidemic levels, the campaign for easing access to the potentially life-saving reversal agent Narcan (naloxone) has gained significant momentum. It began with EMS and law enforcement, but has since expanded to schools, community centers, and public spaces; now it is available over the counter in most every state.             Some experts and law enforcement agencies have declared this a well-intentioned mistake. Increasing access, they say, is a “moral …

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Taking a QI Approach to Antibiotic Stewardship

In my previous column, I introduced why antibiotic stewardship is important to urgent care practice and presented some practical solutions to common scenarios that can lead to overprescribing of antibiotics. This month, let’s look at some efforts underway to promote stewardship through education and performance improvement initiatives. Quality improvement (QI) programs have several key components that apply very well to antibiotic stewardship initiatives; these can serve as a guide as you prepare your own plan …

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Telemedicine 2014 – Medicine Without Borders

Telemedicine 2014 – Medicine Without Borders

Jason A. Williams MPAS, PhD Dr. Williams is the founder of FastMed Urgent Care. The worst disservice we did to telemedicine was in fact calling it telemedicine. If we had just added video conferencing to our telephone calls to patients under our current practice as health care providers, we would have just called this a service improvement. Most physician practices phone patients to follow up, make appointments, relay lab results, answer questions about medications, and …

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