Published on
The Urgent Care Association recently brought together members of its Clinical Advisory Group, Strategic Advisory Group, and Delegates Council in Washington, D.C., for the annual thought leader meeting known as The Assembly. During the event, the College of Urgent Care Medicine (CUCM) and the Urgent Care College of Physicians (UCCOP) crafted a new position statement on clinician productivity. The leaders took a practical approach that uses a balanced, multidimensional framework, which incorporates patient volume, clinical quality, patient safety, patient complexity, documentation requirements, and operational resources. CUCM and UCCOP believe that as urgent care continues to expand—and healthcare organizations increasingly rely on productivity metrics to evaluate clinician performance and operational efficiency—any productivity measures must take into account factors beyond just throughput. The position statement includes recommendations for an integrated framework that could be the starting point for programs that evaluate clinician productivity in urgent care.
The voice of urgent care: “I so appreciate the College of Urgent Care Medicine, its committee members, and its leadership team for tackling this difficult topic,” says Lindsey E. Fish, MD, FCUCM, President of CUCM and Editor-in-Chief of JUCM. “Productivity is frequently designed with a business focus in mind. While this is important, we cannot lose sight of the critical importance of quality patient care. Clinicians need to be part of the conversation regarding productivity, ensuring that patients remain the focus.”