Practice Management
ChoiceOne Urgent Care in Forest Hill, MD is taking a back-to-school community donation program to the next level by hosting a party that will bring generous neighbors together to benefit others—while at the same time getting to know ChoiceOne staff and checking out the facility. ChoiceOne and its partner, University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health, enlisted local media to invite the public to a Back to School Bash, to which they were encouraged to bring donated …
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Visits that disgraced R&B superstar R. Kelly made to urgent care centers and other healthcare facilities are making headlines as authorities work to prove 18 federal charges against him, ranging from kidnapping to sexual assault to producing and possessing child pornography. The latest bombshell in the years-long investigation is that Kelly may have exposed his victims to sexually transmitted diseases in the course of his alleged assaults. To that end, investigators have obtained records from …
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If you needed any more proof that we as a society—including the urgent care industry—are firmly entrenched in the internet age, here it is: A prestigious academic health system has appointed its first chief medical social media officer. As noted in an article recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Harvard-trained gastroenterologist Austin Chiang, MD is now tasked with helping Jefferson Health/Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals in Philadelphia stay on point with a …
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At the midway point of August, designated as Vaccine Awareness Month by the American Academy of Pediatrics, and just weeks before the start of 2019–2020 flu shot efforts, there’s a renewed push to help clinicians deal with patients who are convinced they “know” that vaccines a) are a conspiracy to make drug companies and doctors rich; b) cause patients to get the illness they’re being vaccinated against; and c) probably cause autism in innocent children. …
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The folks hawking something called Miracle Mineral Solution would have you believe it’s a cure for cancer. Or HIV. Or autism. Unfortunately, a lot of consumers seem to be buying it and using it to their own detriment—so many, in fact, that the Food and Drug Administration felt compelled to issue a strong warning that anyone who is drinking the supposed “miracle” cure should stop immediately or risk severe vomiting, severe diarrhea, life-threatening low blood …
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The last time Anthem made big news relevant to the urgent care community, it was something of a blessing: the insurer announced it was going to deny claims for emergency room visits that wound up being for nonemergent complaints, possibly incentivizing patients to go to urgent care instead. The reception might not be so warm for the company’s latest initiative, though. Anthem says it’s going to launch a new app that will allow its members …
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When someone with cancer experiences unexplained pain, nausea, or any number of symptoms that could be alarming given their condition, their first reaction may be to call their oncologist. The problem is, they’re often not available spontaneously. The next logical option, historically, has been the emergency room. We all know that sitting in a crowded waiting room full of sick people for hours is definitely not what the doctor would have ordered, though. As you’ve …
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As summer winds down, local chambers of commerce are trying to squeeze in end-of-season festivals dedicated to every type of food, music, and ethnic group imaginable. It’s prime time for major national events like the just-concluded Sturgis (SD) Motorcycle Rally, too. In the latter case, area healthcare facilities have learned they need extra staff on hand to treat bikers and onlookers who flood the town ever year; last year, local healthcare facilities saw 610 rally-related …
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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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