Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Urgent Care’s Voice is Heard on Medicare Coding Changes

The Urgent Care Association (UCA) has officially filed comments with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), supporting a proposal to modify the “24/7” access requirements for providers who plan to bill Medicare for Chronic Care Management (CCM) codes. According to UCA, the new language will allow primary care providers “to more easily meet the CCM billing requirements if they contract with urgent care centers for their patient’s acute care needs, including evenings and …

‘There’s Profitability in Affordability’ for Urgent Care

The path to ongoing growth in the urgent care industry is paved with the dollars it saves payers and patients, according to MedExpress Chief Medical Officer Thomas Pangburn, MD. While insurers would likely disagree, Pangburn says that includes the advent of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”). Here’s some of the rationale he shared with the Pittsburgh Tribune Review : “With the Affordable Care Act and changes in the healthcare system, more and more …

Reno Will Keep Seeing Ambulances Roll Up to the Urgent Care Center

A public–private partnership that supports ambulance transport to urgent care centers when clinically appropriate just got new life in Reno, NV. It’s a cooperative effort between Reno’s Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority and Renown Health, launched in 2012 with the help of $9.8 million from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Healthcare Innovation Award program. That grant ran out, but Renown says it will continue to support the program because of the cost savings …

If School Nurses Provide Virtual Urgent Care, Who Pays?

On the surface, it sounds like a great way to see children getting the care they need as soon as possible. However, questions abound about the feasibility of a new program that gives students in Greene County (Tennessee) Schools access to virtual urgent care under a partnership between Niswonger Children’s Hospital and First Assist Urgent Care. Basically, the Niswonger Virtual Health Clinic offers students online access to doctors and nurse practitioners within their school nurse’s …

UCA Commits to Antibiotic Stewardship

The Urgent Care Association (UCA) has outlined a framework by which it plans to guide urgent care centers to reduce inappropriate outpatient antibiotic, with an ultimate goal to curb the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. UCA’s statement notes that with urgent care clinicians treating some 160 million patients annually—many of whom think they may need an antibiotic—this setting is in a strong position to effect positive change. “UCA recognizes the vitally important role our clinicians …

New Data Show ACA Is Especially Hard on Emergency Rooms

The Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”) is driving higher volume in the emergency room at the same time it creates conditions resulting in lower availability of providers, according to a pair of new studies published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine. The end result: longer waits that frustrate patients and a patient load that clinicians may be hard pressed to keep pace with. While the studies were focused on Illinois and Massachusetts, the results …

New Data Exchange Models Serve Urgent Care’s and Payers’ Interests

Patient population data rooted in urgent care visits could be invaluable to healthcare systems, especially with patients who don’t have a primary care physician. And, of course, urgent care operators want to be included in local provider networks. Current and emerging technologies, as well as growing emphasis on value-based care, make this the perfect time to strike formal partnerships to exchange electronic patient data, providing a path for both parties toward their goals. It’s incumbent …

‘Micro-Hospitals’—Some with Urgent Care Centers—Are on the Rise

St Vincent Health in Indiana is the latest system to join a growing trend in the U.S.: opening small “footprint” hospitals—multispecialty facilities with an emergency room or an urgent care center to lower volume and offer easier access in conjunction with their main campuses. In St Vincent’s case, that amounts to four new 24-hour emergency micro-hospitals and three ambulatory care centers in the Indianapolis area. Each will have seven outpatient beds and eight in-patient beds. …

Freestanding ERs Criticized for Billing—and Cherry-Picking Wealthy Patients

The rapid growth of freestanding emergency rooms—as well as consumer outrage over controversial billing practices—continues to draw the attention of researchers and legislators around the country. Most typically found in affluent neighborhoods, some freestanding emergency centers can be hard to distinguish from lower cost urgent care centers, setting expectations for some patients that they’ll receive an urgent care-size bill. When the cost more closely resembles the cost of a trip to the ED, patients cry …

AFC: Fastest Growing Health Company in the U.S., Per Inc. 5000

For the second year in a row (and third time in 4 years), American Family Care (AFC) has earned a place on the Inc. 5000 list, which ranks the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. The company was #1,298 on the list year, but rose to 1,010 this year. AFC also ranked as the fastest growing health-related company in the U.S., based on revenue growth of >300% for the second straight year. AFC was an …

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