Practice Management
Federal health agencies insisted in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic that a 14-day quarantine was prudent for anyone who had contact with an individual who tested positive for the virus. Local health agencies and school systems followed suit. Since then, the general belief has been that a shorter period is adequate, easing the pressure associated with disengaging from even distanced activities or hybrid learning. An article just published by JAMA Network supports the …
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When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hosted a National Forum on COVID-19 Vaccination this week (coinciding with news that the U.S. had passed the 500,000 mortality mark), speakers identified increasing the supply of vaccines; ensuring there are more vaccinators to administer the vaccine; and creating more places for people to get vaccinated as key steps toward widespread protection against the virus. While expressing the idea that retail pharmacies and federally qualified health centers …
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Given that many patients with COVID-19 are asymptomatic, the value of basic screenings has come under debate. However, your personal views on whether they’re necessary are irrelevant if your state or local health department has enacted policies requiring them. An urgent care operator learned this the hard way when the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited a center for not keeping a daily record of health screenings for people who visited—after being tipped off …
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It’s expected that patients are not at their best when they enter an urgent care center. Clearly they’re not feeling well in one way or another. That’s probably compounded by the fact that they couldn’t get in to see their “regular” doctor—and the overall stresses of having to be around other sick people in the midst of a deadly pandemic. Tempers may be short. You and your team can’t afford to respond in a like …
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Many Americans are fed up with social isolation, worrying about loved ones and themselves, wearing masks, and delays in rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. Some are getting desperate and scouring the internet for outside-the-box, readily available ways to supposedly shore up their immune systems and ward off the virus, or even to self-treat infection itself. Unfortunately, their efforts are in vain if an article just published by JAMA Network Open is any indication. Researchers conducted …
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These are tough times for urgent care. Many operators are still struggling to get back to some sense of a “normal” way of doing business and, likely, recovering from a serious shortfall in patient visits during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, this is no time to experience delays in getting paid on the essential services you provide to patients in need. And yet, if you’re not up to date on changes in …
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As the East Coast braces for its third snowstorm in less than 2 weeks, much of Texas is still struggling with very un-Texas-like cold temperatures and widespread power outages. Six people were killed and dozens were injured in a 133-car pileup on a slick highway near Fort Worth. An urgent care center in Fairfield, CT was featured on local media talking about a sharp rise in injuries due to people falling on icy walkways. These …
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Patients (and probably more than a few healthcare professionals) are all about the COVID-19 vaccine these days. However, the need for ongoing vigilance against other communicable diseases goes on. To that end, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed its recommended immunization schedule for adults for 2021. You can read the entire report here, but following are illness-specific changes that may be most relevant for the …
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Regular readers of JUCM News know telehealth has been on the rise among urgent care centers for the past year. It’s been so popular across the healthcare spectrum during the pandemic that the federal government just extended certain waivers, such as approving the right of patients to “see” providers in states other than their own, during the current public health emergency. If you’re thinking this would be a great time to dip your toe in …
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Millions of Americans have already availed themselves to one of the newly approved COVID-19 vaccines. Multiples more are eager to get their turn. There are many, however, who say they won’t get the shot because the vaccines were “rushed through” the approval process. While that’s not true—studies were prioritized due to the urgent nature of the pandemic—too many people are afraid that they’re putting themselves at unreasonable risk for a bad reaction, with anaphylaxis being …
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