Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Urgent Care Operations Can Flourish as Franchises, Too

Ownership structure gets talked about a lot in urgent care circles. Where entrepreneurial physicians essentially created the industry, it wasn’t too long before venture capitalists and health systems wanted in on the action and started gobbling up existing operators. Today those entities dominate. That doesn’t mean there are no other paths to success in the industry, however. The Franchise Times just announced that American Family Care cracked their list of the 200 fastest-growing franchises, coming …

Want Good Scores? Forget Giving in to Patient Demands, and Educate Them Instead

Patient satisfaction scores have become something of a currency in the healthcare marketplace. That’s probably truest in urgent care, where patients are making snap decisions on where to go in the next 5 minutes—often guided by Yelp, Google, and even travel sites like Travelocity. It’s so common that fear of bad reviews can creep into your mind and start affecting how you practice. The mainstream media is picking up on that concern, though the coverage …

They’ll Come for the Free Sports Physical, but Return Later to Pay for Care

A provider’s time is tight in urgent care. Margins can be, too. But time you put aside to give away your services in measured quantities can wind up paying great dividends down the road. Xpress Wellness Urgent Care is investing in that concept by offering free sports physicals for student athletes in the Duncan, OK area this fall. Anyone taking them up on the offer even gets to go online to pick a time that’s …

New Validated Data Suggest You Should Update Your Approach to CPR

You probably learned how to administer CPR before you even entered med school. It’s not exactly a complex medical procedure, after all. It’s so simple, in fact, that very little clinical research has gone into assessing whether there’s a better, more effective way to do it—until now. The National Institutes of Health Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium tested various combinations of chest compression frequency and chest compression depth to assess the optimal method. The research took into …

Awareness and Usage of PrEP Are at an All-Time High. Should You Be Offering It?

Around 90% of men who have sex with men say they’re aware of the availability and purpose of preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) against HIV transmission—and usage among that population rose five-fold (from 6% to 35%) between 2014 and 2017, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nonetheless, overall usage in terms of numbers remains relatively low, due in part to the reluctance of some healthcare providers to offer the necessary patient …

Measures to Keep Emergency Rooms Safe and Secure May Drive Still More Patients to Urgent Care

A North Carolina hospital system is installing metal detectors, limiting elevator access in specific areas within its facility, and hiring armed guards to keep watch in its emergency rooms in the wake of incidents ranging from an armed patient roaming the halls to a distraught mother barricading herself and her son (a patient) in a hospital room. While it’s laudable that they’re doing what they feel is necessary to keep patients and staff safe, such …

Barely a Week into the ‘Season,’ Influenza Shuts Down a School for an Entire Week

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends all Americans who are eligible for a flu shot (meaning anyone over the age of 6 months, for the most part) get one before the end of this month. That’s too late to prevent a serious outbreak in Baton Rouge, LA, though, where a school saw 38% of its upper-grade students body stricken with flu-like symptoms. While not all cases were confirmed to be influenza infection, the …

Millennials Need Urgent Care Now More Than Ever—Even If They Don’t Know It Yet

Millennials’ preference for walk-in care compared with traditional, office-based primary care has been well documented. And the fact that Americans born between 1980 and 1996 are visiting urgent care centers in ever-growing numbers makes sense; they don’t like the idea of making appointments or having an ongoing relationship with one medical provider, and really don’t like going to see a provider unless they’re sick—and then they want to see one now. So, the news that …

Flu Season Carries Potential Benefits—and Risks—for Occupational Medicine Providers

If you offer occupational medicine services, it’s likely a heavily promoted flu clinic is an annual event. (And if not, why not?) Some providers and companies are taking that a step further by offering free flu shots to employees’ family members, as well. The benefit is multifold: Employees see this as proof that their employer cares about them; you get to introduce yourself and your services to more prospective patients; and the entire practice promotes …

Not Making Headway in Promoting Vaccinations to Patients? Try Changing Your Style

Some patients are eager to take your advice regarding vaccine-preventable diseases. Others not so much. That doesn’t mean they’re unreachable, however. A study just published in Pediatrics indicates how you approach the subject can make a difference. Focusing on human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, the researchers found that acceptance rates were higher when the clinician used a “presumptive” communication style—making a strong recommendation based on the presumption that vaccination will be acceptable to the patient, as …

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