Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

IMS Health–Quintiles Merger Weds Research and Information Technologies

IMS Health Holdings Inc. and Quintiles Transnational Holdings are merging in an all-stock deal aimed at creating “a leading portfolio of anonymous patient records, technology-enabled data collection, and observational research experts to address critical healthcare issues of cost, value, and patient outcomes.” The new company, to be called Quintiles IMS Holdings, says its combined strength will be to support drug development from inception through demonstrating the value of new medicines. The 2015 combined revenue of …

Optum Plans Faster Urgent Care Growth Than Expected

Wall Street analysts have predicted that Optum would add 25 to 30 urgent care centers per year through acquisition and startups, but on a recent call with analysts the company predicted it would grow at a quicker pace on its way to operating clinics in 75 markets. A key step in that strategy, as we reported, was buying MedExpress for the urgent care centers it operates in 14 states. Optum still says those locations will …

Patients Don’t Associate Higher Cost with Better Care

Apparently, patients don’t see a need to pay Cadillac prices for the “Cadillac” of healthcare services (wherever they may exist). Most participants in a new report published in Health Affairs don’t associate higher cost with higher quality when it comes to making healthcare decisions—a departure from the expected consumer mindset when it comes to buying other goods and services. Among the questions included in the survey: “Would you say higher prices are typically a sign …

Denver Health Loses a CEO, Gains an Urgent Care Profile

Denver Health is ready to join the ranks of health systems that are diversifying its service offerings to include urgent care—and will do so in a big way, but without Arthur Gonzalez. Chief executive officer since 2012, Gonzalez resigned just a week before the opening of a $27 million, 4,500-square-foot clinic that will house an urgent care center, along with primary care and specialty services. The new complex will sit in an underserved section of …

Urgent Care Costs Less than the ED for Pediatric Medicaid Patients

Visits to urgent care resulted in lower costs and a lower rate of return visits compared with visits to the emergency room among younger Medicaid patients with low acuity symptoms, as reflected in a new study in published in Pediatrics. Researchers at Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City, MO and Children’s Hospital Association in Overland Park, KS looked at 5.9 million ED and urgent care visits by Medicaid-covered children between 2010 and 2012. …

San Diego Drowning in Flood of Nonemergent ED Visits

More than half of visits to emergency rooms in California’s San Diego County hospitals between 2004 and 2014 were for complaints that were nonemergent, according to the county Health and Human Services Agency there. Overall volume swelled by 40% over that time, despite population growth of just 7% in the nation’s eighth largest city. The problem has gotten so bad that civic leaders staged a media blitz, imploring residents through newspapers and television news to …

New Report Sees Urgent Care Market Growing to $30.5 Billion by 2020

Add Transparency Market Research to the growing list of research organizations that see major growth continuing in the global urgent care market. Using 2013’s figure of $23.5 billion as a baseline, the report projects 30% growth by 2020—making for a market value of $30.5. Urgent Care Centers Market—Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2014–2020 cites the growing ranks of senior citizens and concerns over finding cost-effective care, combined with traditional urgent care …

Survey: ‘New Front Door to Healthcare’ is Opening Wider

Alternative sites of care—the proverbial “new front door to healthcare”—are being considered acceptable to a greater number and wider range of patients as time goes on, according to a new survey by Oliver Wyman’s Health & Life Science Practice. For purposes of the survey, those “alternative” sites include urgent care, retails clinics, and telehealth. While the benefits to the patient—greater access and power to make decisions—are self-evident, Oliver Wyman estimates at least $200 billion is …

Doctors Urge Florida to Reverse Course and Squelch Aetna–Humana Merger

Florida’s insurance regulators have already given their blessing, but three physician groups are asking the state’s attorney general to put the kibosh on the proposed merger between Aetna Inc. and Humana, Inc. The American Medical Association, Florida Medical Association, and Florida Osteopathic Medical Association all say the merger would reduce competition to such an extent that healthcare access, quality, and affordability would suffer across the state. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation approved the deal …

Study: ACA Fails to Slow ED Visits, But Urgent Care Use Also On the Rise

One of the selling points of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as Obamacare) was that it would save health dollars by diverting newly insured patients away from the emergency room toward primary care physicians. Instead, ED use has continued to grow. The issue, according to Robert Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis at Harvard’s School of Public Health, is the same as it’s always been, regardless of an individual’s insurance status: …

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