Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

More Data Show Millennials Prefer Walk-In Settings Like Urgent Care

The largest generational segment in the United States today—the 83 million “Millennials” born between 1981 and 1996—are demonstrating a preference for the convenience of walk-in care facilities compared with an ongoing relationship with a traditional primary care office-based physician, according to new data released by the Kaiser Family Foundation. It’s not just the convenience, though; speed of service, price transparency, and connectivity were also mentioned as key attributes that appealed to them. Of all the …

Think You’re Immune to the Threat of Embezzlement? So Did This Urgent Care Giant

Medical practices—including urgent care centers—are the sites of financial crimes far more often than they should be. From sloppy bookkeeping to outright embezzlement, the consequences of not minding the books closely could be catastrophic for your business and your reputation. Let us interrupt you from thinking It couldn’t happen to me by suggesting that you read on. One of the largest urgent care operators in the country just saw a former manager get sentenced to …

CMS’s 2019 Plan Could Even the Playing Field for Nonhospital Urgent Care Centers

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says it wants to stop paying hospital-based clinics more than they pay physician offices for the same level of care administered to Medicare patients. Calling it a “site-neutral plan for clinic visits,” CMS proposes lowering reimbursements for hospital outpatient departments to match what it pays on the physician fee schedule for clinic visits. According to figures released by CMS, right now Medicare pays roughly $116 for a visit …

Evolving Hep A Transmissions Could Spur More Vaccinations. Why Not in Urgent Care?

An abstract presented at ID Week in Atlanta recently paints a grim picture of the evolution of hepatitis A transmissions. Between 2007 and 2017, the incidence of hepatitis A attributed to outbreaks (as opposed to common-source exposure) increased steadily—to the point that in 2017, 43% of hep A infections were associated with outbreaks, compared with only 5% between 2007 and 2011. In the past, large community outbreaks were most likely to be associated with asymptomatic …

What Urgent Care Can Still Learn from ‘Best-in-Class’ Consumer Companies

In the past, we’ve pointed out that the urgent care industry has forged a reputation for being more consumer-friendly than many other settings (which is a key part for its ongoing growth). As other industries evolve, though, urgent care operators might want to pay attention to new strategies that are paying off. A post on FastCompany.com suggests taking a closer look at Lyft and Airbnb—two companies that have built their brand on a foundation of …

Hospitals Prove Dangerous for Too Many Physicians

Nearly half of the 3,500-plus emergency physicians who took part in a survey commissioned by the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) say they’ve been physically assaulted at work. Most deny being injured or needing to take time off as a result. Hitting/slapping, spitting, punching, kicking, scratching, and biting were all considered to be physical assault. The numbers are even worse when you consider nonphysical assaults or harassment; 96% of female physicians and 80% of …

UCA Webinar: How to Manage Risk—and Avoid Malpractice in Urgent Care

No sane human wants to wind up on the wrong end of a lawsuit, but the risk is especially perilous in the healthcare field. Be found culpable in a malpractice suit and you could literally lose everything you’ve worked for, going back to medical school. Unfortunately, the practice of medicine is inherently risky. Susan Boisvert, BSN, MHSA, CPHRM, FASHRM, a senior risk manager with Coverys, will talk about how to walk that tightrope during the …

It’s Official: CVS and Aetna Get the Go-Ahead to Merge

CVS Health and Aetna received approval to merge from the Department of Justice this week—provided that Aetna follows through on plans to sell its Medicare Part D business to a subsidiary of WellCare Health Plans in order to preserve competition in that market. CVS is already the leader in the Medicare Part D market, with Aetna fifth. The $69 billion deal will blend Aetna’s rich beneficiary data with CVS’s capability to provide point-of-service care, a …

Latest Drugs Added to Panel Turn Up More Often in Positive DOT Tests

The U.S. Department of Transportation added four semisynthetic opioids to its drug testing panel on the first of this year. Now, just over 10 months later, those four—hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxycodone, and oxymorphone—are turning up more often than their older counterparts when transportation professionals fail a drug test. New data from the Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index show that the positivity rate for them is “notably higher” than the positive rate seen for more traditional opiates. Prior to …

Focus on Preventing Sexual Harassment Across Urgent Care, Not Investigating Case-by-Case

Sexual harassment is a “chronic debilitating disease” in healthcare settings—and it needs to be treated as such, according to a pair of Perspective articles in the New England Journal of Medicine. As one of them points out, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine issued a report stating that up to 50% of female medical students will experience some form of sexual harassment before they even get out of med school. The morality (or …

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