Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Goldman Sachs Acquires Xpress Wellness

Goldman Sachs Alternatives recently announced its acquisition of Xpress Wellness, LLC. Xpress Wellness is affiliated with a physician-led rural healthcare platform that includes urgent care clinics serving Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. The deal is positioned to accelerate the development of new and existing markets as well as to build out additional healthcare services, according to a press release. Recent moves: Within the portfolio of Latticework Capital Management since 2018, Xpress Wellness opened 30 de novos …

Joint Commission Offers Telehealth Accreditation for UC

The Joint Commission recently announced a new telehealth accreditation program (TEL) applicable to eligible hospitals and ambulatory care providers, including urgent cares. The TEL program requirements will be released this month with formal applications opening on July 1, 2024. New telehealth-specific requirements include: streamlined emergency management to address remote care rather than in a physical building; new standards for telehealth provider and patient education about the use of telehealth platforms and devices; and new standards …

Banner UC Tracks Valley Fever to Speed Diagnosis

Banner Urgent Care facilities have launched a new dashboard system aimed at enhancing disease tracking capabilities across the region for coccidioidomycosis (“San Joaquin Valley fever” or “valley fever”), according to the University of Arizona website. The dashboard aggregates real-time data from all Banner locations to determine the percentage of positive cases, report patients’ symptoms, and track the timing of infections. Banner aims to pinpoint high-risk areas where the disease is more prevalent to help speed …

Optum Set to Close Down Virtual Care

On a recent conference call, Optum notified some employees that its virtual care division will cease operations in July, according to Becker’s Health IT. Optum Virtual Care launched in 2021 and covers all 50 states. At UnitedHealth’s investor conference in November, Optum’s CEO implied that virtual care is a crowded market, and more recently, employees on social media have reported a significant workforce reduction at Optum, ranging from nurse case managers to senior director and …

Private Equity Bracing For Healthcare Bankruptcies

Private equity firms were responsible for a significant number of healthcare sector bankruptcies last year, and another round of bankruptcies is anticipated in 2024. Nearly all of the financially strained healthcare companies in the United States are under private equity ownership, according to a report from the nonprofit Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP), which analyzes the impact of private equity ownership across multiple industries. PESP reported that last year, private equity-backed companies accounted for at …

About Half of Older Adults Have Accessed Urgent Care and Many Would Visit Again

A new report from the University of Michigan found 60% of people aged 50 to 80 have visited an urgent care (UC) clinic or a retail store, workplace, or mobile health clinic setting within the past 2 years. The university’s National Poll on Healthy Aging analysis notes that urgent care clinics were the top choice among these alternative sites of care: 47% of respondents say they have accessed UC at least once, and 23% visited …

Change Healthcare Facing Secondary Cyberattack

Another ransomware group, RansomHub, is allegedly attempting to extort UnitedHealth Group’s Change Healthcare unit in a second round of cyberattacks, according to Becker’s Hospital Review. They claim to possess 4 terabytes of Change’s data and have demanded payment, threatening to sell the sensitive health and financial information of millions of consumers on the dark web. Change Healthcare had previously paid $22 million to the BlackCat/ALPHV ransomware outfit after a February cyberattack that severely crippled the …

ExperCARE Adds New Market With MedCenter Urgent Care Deal

Earlier this month, ExperCARE announced its acquisition of MedCenter Urgent Care, adding several new locations to ExperCARE’s portfolio, while extending its reach into Alabama for the first time. Founded in 2002, MedCenter Urgent Care offers urgent care as well as family medicine. Backed by Seven Hills Capital since September of 2022, ExperCARE operates 7 other locations throughout the greater Savannah, Georgia, area. Acquisition deals: This transaction represents a follow-on urgent care asset for Seven Hills. …

Health System Acquires Saltzer Urgent Cares

Saint Alphonsus Health System in Idaho is set to take over an ambulatory surgery center and 2 urgent care centers previously owned and operated by Intermountain’s Saltzer Health. Intermountain had planned to shut down Saltzer Health in Idaho by April if no buyer came forward, according to Healthcare Finance News. The health systems reportedly have been working together to solve the potential community access challenges that would have resulted from the multispecialty physician group ceasing …

Majority of ED Patients Say They Waited Longer Than 2 Hours

Results from a poll of 1,000 consumers presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts show that half of those who went to an emergency department (ED) believed the amount of time they waited for care was unreasonable. While only 3% of respondents who went to the ED had to wait more than 12 hours, another 6% waited from 8-12 hours, 22% waited 4-8 hours, and 29% waited 2-4 hours. The balance (39%) waited less …