Practice Management
The key attributes that have allowed urgent care to flourish are its ability to provide clinically excellent care in a way that is less time-consuming and lower cost than the emergency room, and more readily accessible than traditional office-based practices. That’s what we have to offer. The question is, how well does that match up with the rationale patients use when selecting their site of care? Pretty well, it turns out, if a new study …
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Urgent care centers offer convenience and quality care that patients need, at a cost that insurers should appreciate (especially when the alternative would be an emergency room bill). You know this, but sometimes it may seem like private and public payers alike don’t have a clue. The Urgent Care Association has put together a rationale to drive these points home in a position statement aptly titled Urgent Care Centers Deserve Fair Reimbursement for the Services …
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Depending on who you ask, telemedicine is either the next step forward in the evolution of patient care—and one that will foster revenue growth in the process—or gimmicky technology that will drive unnecessary prescriptions and end up diluting in-person visits. JUCM News readers have read valid rationale from both perspectives. Either way, though, it’s a growing phenomenon that urgent care patients are noticing, and getting curious about. Some telemedicine calls are handled by call centers. …
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Providing care for children sometimes means doing more than assessing health concerns. Something as simple as a stuffed animal can lessen the pain of a traumatic experience, such as a house fire or a natural disaster, and remind a child that even strangers care and are eager to provide comfort when it’s needed most. It also speaks volumes to their parents, who are likely to be extremely grateful—and to remember who took an extra step …
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Florida is the latest state to declare a public health emergency due to a spike in confirmed cases of hepatitis A. The state surgeon general announced there have been more than 2,000 so far this year—vs 548 in 2018 entirely. State and local health officials are investigating the sources, and urging residents to get vaccinated against hep A. Incidence has jumped in other parts of the country, as well. According to the Centers for Disease …
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Today, SouthStar Urgent Care has 11 clinics in relatively small markets in Louisiana. By year’s end, they expect to have 19; come 2020, they’re adding another 18, tripling their location count in the space of a few months. SouthStar’s new president and chief operating officer says the sudden, dramatic growth is a sign of the company’s commitment to Louisiana and its passion for supporting communities. While that may be, urgent care watchers also recognize it …
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A woman presented to an urgent care center in Santa Fe, NM to have pain and bruising in her chest checked out after she took a fall. X-rays showed now evidence of fractures or contusion, so the woman was given a prescription for pain medication and released, with no instructions for follow-up care. Return trips to the same urgent care center followed suit. Months later, after visiting another healthcare provider, she was diagnosed with lung …
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State support for reimbursing telemedicine providers is growing at a fast and furious pace—as is consumer adoption of telemedicine services. According to the American Telemedicine Association’s 2019 State of the States Report: Coverage and Reimbursement, 40 states and the District of Columbia have adopted substantive policies or received awards to expand telehealth coverage and reimbursement—just since 2017. In doing so, they’re also increasing access for patients and incentivizing providers (including urgent care operators) to jump …
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A new report from UnitedHealth Group reveals that around two-thirds of the 27 million annual visits to U.S. emergency rooms are unnecessary. Those 18 million encounters carry an average cost of $2,032 each, adding up to a $36 billion price tag for care that could be provided more easily and just as safely elsewhere for a fraction of the cost. The same brief notes the average cost of a trip to an urgent care center …
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It’s only August, but some regions of the country have already had their back-to-school days. Others are just now seeing advertisements for blockbuster sales of school supplies. For some families, though, those promotions serve as a painful reminder that new supplies are out of reach for their children. Dayton (NV) Urgent Care has taken notice of this and is trying to ease the load by collecting community donations of backpacks and school supplies appropriate for …
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