Practice Management
JUCM (both the journal and in this newsletter) is full of information and news about current trends in urgent care acquisitions and mergers. The Urgent Care Association’s newsletter is, too, and if you attended the recent UCA convention you heard plenty about how health systems are buying up small, and even not-so-small, urgent care operations. Some perceive that big health systems are gobbling up urgent care centers as an investment or in the spirit of, …
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Urgent care providers have gotten the message that rampant opioid prescribing has led to a public health crisis rooted in addiction and death. And it’s likely new prescriptions have dropped considerably as a result. However, knee-jerk attempts to stop taking them immediately also poses the threat of “serious harm” to patients, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Going cold turkey or dropping existing doses too suddenly has led to withdrawal symptoms, uncontrolled pain, …
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JUCM News readers know Walgreens has been making inroads toward urgent care by partnering with MedExpress in select locations. Now comes word that the chain drugstore giant is working with VillageMD to offer primary care for adults at five locations in the Houston area. By the end of this year, the plan is to start opening VillageMD primary care clinics next to existing Walgreens stores. Each will be called Village Medical at Walgreens, offering primary …
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In response to mounting cases across the globe, this week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called Candida auris an “emerging fungus” that poses a “serious global threat.” It spreads in healthcare settings via contact with exposed surfaces and person-to-person contact. It’s also resistant to some or all antifungal drugs, according to the CDC, making it an especially vexing concern. The most common symptoms include chills and fever that do not respond to antibiotic …
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The Urgent Care Association bestowed its Lifetime Membership Award on a true leader in the urgent care industry during its national convention in Palm Beach, FL this week—and it’s someone whose name will be familiar to JUCM readers. Alan Ayers, MBA, MAcc has been a part of urgent care’s growth for many years, from serving as a consultant to urgent care clients and holding multiple executive-level positions with Concentra, to leading various hospital-affiliated urgent care …
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If you’re reading this, then the fact that urgent care as a distinct practice setting has been on a steady growth trajectory for years isn’t news. It may be more so for readers of Business Insider magazine, however. They know now, though, thanks to a new article that uses data from the current Urgent Care Association Benchmarking Report to illustrate both the growth of the industry and the services patients are most likely to find …
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A study just published in the journal Pediatrics reveals that the rate of antibiotic prescribing for children with symptoms of acute respiratory infections is higher in connection with direct-to-consumer telemedicine than for those children whose parents take them to an urgent care center or primary care provider. Unfortunately, only 59% of those prescriptions were in accord with existing guidelines, the authors reported; the rate of “compliant” prescriptions in urgent care and primary care visits topped …
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—along with the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Agriculture, and numerous state departments of health—are investigating a growing outbreak of Shiga-producing E coli. Cases have turned up in Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia as of April 4. So far 72 people have been infected; there have been multiple hospitalizations, but no deaths or cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome (a type of kidney failure) have occurred, to …
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We’ve told you about a warning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that influenza season continues to linger, no matter what the calendar says. A new study in JAMA Cardiology serves as reminder that it’s essential—and possibly lifesaving—to remain vigilant for related cardiovascular concerns, especially among heart failure patients with the flu. The authors of the study evaluated the connection between flu activity and hospitalizations for heart failure and myocardial infarction in four …
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If fresh data revealed in a new white paper from FAIR Health are any indication, patients and payers are really getting the message that urgent care is often the best alternative for immediate healthcare needs. From 2016 to 2017, overall utilization of urgent care centers grew 14%, double the increase in usage of retail clinics (7%) and sevenfold more than the growth in use of emergency rooms (2%). Retail did outpace urgent care in a …
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