Practice Management
The Urgent Care Association may have been forced to cancel its annual convention due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has repurposed the time and energy that would have gone in that direction to produce a range of support materials for its constituency. On the business side, UCA asked its policy consultant, Camille Bonta, MHS to share a summary of recent legislation and regulatory changes that could be helpful to urgent care centers; Staying Afloat …
Read More
The challenge of keeping patients who could be highly contagious with a potentially deadly infection out of your facility, while still providing care for them is one of the greatest challenges facing many urgent care facilities during the COVID-19 crisis. Some who never saw the utility of telehealth are now using it as a screening tool, however. One Chicago-based ER doc who is also heavily involved in urgent care has pulled several 12-hour telehealth shifts …
Read More
It seems paradoxical at first thought, but one of the unforeseen consequences of the COVID-19 crisis is that some healthcare providers—certainly high on the list of “essential workers”—may see their jobs adversely affected by the pandemic. As noted in a post on Inside Sources, emergency rooms are emptying out as hospitals reroute patients presenting with symptoms or even concerns related to the virus to other areas of the hospital. Many other patients are opting not …
Read More
The “normal” way of doing things is no longer possible for urgent care operators during the COVID-19 crisis. Many around the country are looking at ways they can continue to serve their communities and keep their workers engaged while others are opting to close or consolidate locations. Prevea Health in the Green Bay, WI area, for example, is letting the community know that one of its locations is now dedicated exclusively to patients with upper …
Read More
When President Trump declared a national state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services instituted changes in their licensure requirements, as detailed in the COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Health Care Providers Fact Sheet. While CMS is deferring to individual states on specifics—including on all staff licensure, certification, or registration—the agency is waving many requirements in order to allow healthcare facilities the freedom to make decisions based on the conditions …
Read More
A small double-blind, placebo-controlled study in China has shown there may be promise in the use of hydroxychloroquine in patients with COVID-19. The researchers randomized 62 people with early COVID-19 infection into two groups. The control group received placebo, and the treatment group received 200 mg of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) twice daily for 5 days. Time to clinical recovery (TTCR), clinical characteristics, and radiological results were assessed at baseline and at the end of the study …
Read More
The COVID-19 pandemic is pushing public health officials, hospital administrators, the general public, and certainly healthcare providers to limits unseen in this lifetime. As always, though, it’s essential to correctly code for services provided in order to ensure urgent care centers are paid for the care they provide. Fail to do that, especially in the midst of economic chaos, and your business will suffer. Experity will host a webinar designed to help you on Thursday, …
Read More
Hospitals in some U.S. cities are getting slammed with COVID-19 patients, leaving some patients to consider what their best option might be when they need immediate care. Many know urgent care is the best bet. Before the term COVID-19 even existed, however, operators of freestanding emergency rooms touted their own ability to see patients with a broad array of injuries and illnesses faster than would be likely in conventional emergency rooms. It’s a claim that …
Read More
The Urgent Care Association has teamed up with the College of Urgent Care Medicine and the American College of Emergency Physicians to issue a one-page risk stratification guide that suggests best practices when dealing with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases. The complete guide, which separates patients into Risk Category I (consider discharge and home monitoring) or Risk Category II (consider transfer to ED) is available here.
Read More
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has broadened the array of acceptable destinations for ambulance transport—with urgent care centers prominent among those destinations. If transport to a hospital emergency room is not medically appropriate because of conditions at that hospital, for example, ambulances can bring patients to an urgent care center, community mental health center, federally qualified health center, physician’s office, ambulatory surgery center, or any location providing …
Read More