Practice

As JUCM News has reported, many urgent care operators started suffering downturns in patient visits in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. It could be hard to get those patients back without a concerted effort on your part, according to an article just published by JAMA Network. The authors sought to determine the effect of targeted messaging on getting patients who had delayed care back into the doctor’s office, comparing sending a letter vs …

An urgent care physician in the San Francisco Bay area was arrested recently on suspicion of sexual battery. A patient charged that he made repeated, unwanted sexual advances and even forced himself on her three times. Local media reports raise the specter that there could be other victims yet to come forward. There’s no indication that his employer had any idea about his alleged predatory behavior, and at this point there’s no indication that they’ll …

Robust unemployment benefits may be easing the burden for people who can’t find suitable work, but they’re also having the unintended consequence of making it (maybe too) comfortable for the unemployed to stay that way. Would-be candidates are even applying for jobs they have no intention of interviewing for in order to show that they’re engaged in a “bona fide job search” in compliance with requirements to maintain unemployment benefits. The effect is being felt …

Recently, we told you about an emergency temporary standard (ETS) issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to ensure the safety of healthcare workers—including your urgent care team—in the COVID-19 era. Since then, the ETS has been published in the Federal Register and the date for requiring compliance has been set at July 5. As a reminder the ETS mandates that: You conduct a hazard assessment and have a written plan to mitigate virus …

It’s so simple that it may be impossible to resist: A PA has a follow-up question for a physician regarding Patient A right after the physician heads for her car; he shoots her a text so he can move on to the next patient. But hold on—is it a HIPAA violation if he uses his personal device? What about using cell phones or tablets to order office supplies—does that put company resources at risk? While …

While the clinical team has had its hands full focusing on treating and trying to protect patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has maintained its focus on urgent care centers and other medical facilities as worksites. Now, having had more than a year to assess things, the agency has issued an emergency temporary standard (ETS) designed to limit the risk of revitalizing the COVID-19 pandemic among healthcare workers. It requires …

The COVID-19 pandemic forced every institution we take for granted to discover new ways of doing things that would not only be safe, but also allow operations to proceed as “normally” as possible. Besides trying to keep the workforce safe, childcare became a serious issue as kids learned from their bedrooms instead of in their schoolrooms for months (or longer). Some industries found this easier than others; accountants might be able to thrive from a …

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is asking its jurisdictions to work with urgent care operators and hospital emergency rooms to allocate and administer COVID-19 vaccine in an effort to equalize disparities in adult immunization. In its monthly letter to the 64 jurisdictions, which are dispersed throughout the U.S. and its territories, the agency noted that “with 50% of the U.S. population visiting either an emergency department of urgent care facility annually, these access …

Burnout is an ongoing problem in urgent care and other practice environments. It’s been exacerbated since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. We know this already. But JAMA Network Open just published new data that shed light on the biggest culprits, which in turn could give you a leg up on helping your providers maintain a healthy perspective and peak productivity. According to the article, based on a cross-sectional study of 1,310 clinicians, gender and …

As with testing supplies early on in the pandemic, most urgent care operators have had a hard time getting their hands on enough doses of COVID-19 vaccine to really make a difference in their communities. That could be changing in the near future, however, as multiple states are reporting that the demand for COVID-19 vaccines is waning—leaving them with the unexpected challenge of ensuring that their supply is put to good use while it’s viable. …