Practice Management
Members of the Urgent Care Association (UCA) get a lot of “free” stuff—resources, checklists, podcasts, job searches, magazines, webinars, templates, plans, and so on. But this year at the Urgent Care Convention we are going one better (two, actually). I’m talking about our new “Ask a Consultant” sessions and our Quality Programs Center, both of which essentially provide the space for free consulting (yes, free). The Ask a Consultant sessions feature top, vetted consultants who …
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I have a story I want to share with you, but I’m finding it hard to do without it reeking of privilege. This is a story about feeling 100% welcomed in one place when you don’t feel that way in many others. This is a rare for me, and perhaps it will feel like a poor example to you. Yet, it is part of my lived experience and brought something home for me that made …
Read MoreUrgent message: Just as what is predicted to be a brutal flu season picks up steam, the Infectious Diseases Society of America has released new guidelines stressing the need for timely, dual treatment in adults with community-acquired pneumonia who also test positive for influenza. Cornelius O’Leary, Jr., MD After more than a decade, the Infectious Diseases Society of American has published new guidelines on community-acquired-pneumonia—noteworthy for both its switch from narratives to a Grading of …
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Urgent message: New data reveal that urgent care compares favorably with other practice environments when it comes to select key quality indicators. Developing methods to assess the quality of healthcare in any clinical area is a complicated affair. Many individuals have devoted large parts of their careers to quality measurement, and several national organizations such as The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum—exist solely for the purposes of measuring and ensuring the quality of …
Read MoreUrgent message: Efforts to define and accurately count urgent care centers in the U.S.—which may be crucial to the industry’s continued growth—are ongoing, and will require the commitment of trade organizations and individual urgent care owners alike. Our quest to provide accurate, scientifically rigorous benchmarking data for urgent care centers began with the decision to conduct a survey. Before you can administer a survey, though, you need to be able to identify the individuals or organizations …
Read MoreUrgent message: Availability of hospital-affiliated urgent care can not only lower the burden on overcrowded EDs, but also help capture new business and keep existing patients within the health system. Hospitals have operated urgent care centers for over 25 years; today, estimates of how many centers are affiliated with hospitals range from 15% to 20%. In recent years, hospitals grappling with overcrowded emergency rooms and increased competition for outpatient visits have rediscovered urgent care as …
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