Practice Management
As with testing supplies early on in the pandemic, most urgent care operators have had a hard time getting their hands on enough doses of COVID-19 vaccine to really make a difference in their communities. That could be changing in the near future, however, as multiple states are reporting that the demand for COVID-19 vaccines is waning—leaving them with the unexpected challenge of ensuring that their supply is put to good use while it’s viable. …
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In many parts of the country, it’s been more than a year since the majority of children attended school on site, full time. Now that roughly half the adult population has gotten at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine and children as young as 16 are eligible (with that threshold expected to be lowered in the near future), many districts are inviting more kids back in. Not all parents are as comfortable with this prospect …
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This year marks a milestone for Millennials, as the oldest members of that generation (defined by Pew Research as anyone born between 1981 and 1996) turn 40-years-old. According to a CNBC report drawn from a Harris Poll, 44% of them already have at least one chronic health condition. While some are clearly beyond the scope of urgent care (eg, neurodevelopmental disorders and multiple sclerosis), others include high cholesterol, hypertension, migraine headaches, and other conditions for …
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California and Virginia are among the states to reveal recently how they plan to address large-scale testing for COVID-19. While their approaches are distinct, each might offer clues as to how your urgent care operation could support area school systems while possibly introducing new patients to all the services you’re capable of providing. California, after an 11-district pilot program, announced that it is expanding coverage for rapid diagnostic testing of students and staff throughout the …
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COVID-19 vaccinations are being administered at a good clip in most states—with many governors reacting by easing restrictions on social gatherings. Unfortunately, those events coincide with more than half the country seeing record rates of infection. One new development that could be cause for optimism (for the health of the country and the future of urgent care) is the realization that monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) seem to mitigate the effects of SARS-CoV-2. In fact, the Department …
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As if recovery from economic hardships wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t challenging enough, a slew of new coding changes took effect January 1. If you’re having trouble keeping up with the right way to code every procedure—thereby assuring you’re doing what you can to be reimbursed fairly—you’re not alone. That’s why JUCM invited Christian Molstrom, MD to lead a two-part discussion of 2021 Coding Best Practices for Providers. For the second live webinar, Dr. …
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Anyone who works in urgent care and saw an industry article published recently under The Business Journals umbrella was probably taken aback by a headline that began Urgent Care Is Dead. Given that this was followed by Long Live Urgent Care, it seems the author of the headline was trading on the old expression The king is dead, long live the king for shock value. If you read the article, though, you were probably pleasantly …
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Widespread vaccination is being credited for helping Israel reduce its rate of COVID-19 infection, with the crowning achievement being a day free of deaths attributed to the virus for the first time since last June. That same day, only 0.04% of tests administered turned up positive. Just days before, the country passed the 5 million mark in vaccinations, meaning nearly 54% of the population—and 80% of those over age 16—had gotten at least one COVID-19 …
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Cases of influenza for the 2021–21 season were roughly 1% of what we’ve seen in the U.S. over the past few years (just 2,000 cases between September 2020 and April 2021, vs the typical 200,000-plus), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Much of the credit is being given to precautions taken because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While wearing masks, ratcheting up our attention to everyday hygiene, and social distancing helped us ward …
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There’s no doubt that the ability to offer patients immunization against a deadly virus would be a good thing for urgent care. Patients who have never visited your facility before may be encouraged to step inside for the first time, thereby getting a close-up view of how professional your team is and leaving with a peace of mind they may have been lacking for months. What offering the vaccine will not do is provide even …
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