Practice Management
The intersection of uninsured Americans and the high cost of medications is a dangerous one. One aspect that may go under-recognized amid the politicized headlines is exactly how some patients choose to cope with shortfalls or gaps in coverage. And it may affect more patients than you realize; according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, around one-third of uninsured American say they did not take their medication as prescribed in …
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Even before telemedicine has reached full-on acceptance in urgent care, the next step in the evolution of remote healthcare “visits” may be in progress as we speak. A company called OnMed is launching self-contained, unstaffed “pods” that will facilitate remote access to a healthcare provider and allow a patient to receive medication without taking another step. Each unit is designed with capabilities for measuring height and weight; determining body temperature; and measuring blood pressure, respiration, …
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WellStar Health System increased its urgent care center by one-third in a single day, with the announcement that it bought five facilities from Medpost Urgent Care, all in the Atlanta area. WellStar now operates 15 urgent care locations. The system took advantage of the attention local media gave the deal by spelling out the services it (and most urgent care centers) are able to provide on a walk-in basis, including not only assessment and treatment …
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We told you recently about a new program in which ambulances may be used to transport Medicare patients not only to the hospital, but to urgent care centers in response to 911 calls that wind up to be nonemergent. This begs the question: Could rideshare services be employed to carry out the same vital function? Such has been raised in the Texas legislature, as detailed in an article just published in the Houston Chronicle. The …
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Walgreens’ partnership with MedExpress and CVS Health’s acquisition of Aetna have some analysts wondering if the drugstore kingpins might up their clinical game and try to enter the urgent care marketplace in a substantive way, according to a new article in Forbes magazine. As we’ve told you, Walgreens is already running a pilot program with MedExpress to operate urgent care centers in 15 drugstores in Nebraska, Nevada, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. In each location, …
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As healthcare providers in every setting continue the fight against rampant opioid abuse and addiction—with urgent care centers often the target of drug seekers—there’s new hope that relatively simple educational initiatives could help turn the tide. In a study published in the journal Pain Medicine, 167 clinicians at the University of Washington were asked to complete an educational program on the safe and responsible prescribing of opioid medications for the management of acute pain. The …
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Parents and urgent care providers probably have any number of things in common, but one that would top the list is wanting to see children grown up healthy and fit. MedSpring Urgent Care in Austin, TX hit on a great way to support that mutual objective while also getting its name out to the community in a very positive light when it donated $17,500 to a local running club whose mission is to help children …
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More than 20,000 deaths in the United Sates were attributed specifically to Staph infections in 2018, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With resistance to antibiotics being a constant threat—especially in urgent care, where patients are more likely to turn when they wake up with a sore throat—the Urgent Care Association jumped on this issue by forging partnerships to spread awareness of the dangers and educate both clinicians and …
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The Department of Veteran Affairs has loosened its regulations about where veterans can seek care considerably in the past couple of years. In certain conditions, such as distance from or availability of care at a VA facility, they can head straight to a walk-in clinic without preauthorization. The Urgent Care Association took notice—close notice, in fact, and is urging the VA to tweak the policy. While the idea of allowing the patients it covers to …
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Urgent care’s roots are in entrepreneurial physicians who felt there was a better way to practice medicine, and blazed a new path that led to the industry we see today. As urgent care veterans know, though, it wasn’t too long before health systems recognized that a) the model really does work and b) urgent care was creeping in on their territory. So, they started buying up existing urgent care operations or starting their own. Consequently, …
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