Practice Management
Much has been written and said about the preferences of patients in the Millennial generation (defined by Pew Research as anyone born between 1981 and 1996). And rightly so; they’re a sizable portion of your prospective patient population. What may be overlooked, however, is the fact that this same age segment also makes up a sizable portion of your prospective workforce, including physicians. In fact, according to a blog post on the UCA website, authored …
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It’s estimated that 23,000 people in the United States die from drug-resistant infections annually. Overuse and inappropriate use of antibiotics is one of the key culprits in that phenomenon. And yet, antibiotics are an indispensable weapon against disease; ceasing to prescribe them is not an option. The only answer is for all healthcare providers to prescribe responsibly. To learn more about what that really means in the urgent care center, carve out some time to …
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On the heels of a World Health Organization decision to classify burnout as a legitimate workplace phenomenon, the National Academy of Medicine just released a report focused on preventing, identifying, and helping to manage clinician burnout. It also estimates that between one third and one half of all clinicians in the United States are affected by burnout. Objectives laid out in the report include establishing positive work environments; addressing burnout in training and at the …
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Physician assistants and nurse practitioners, known collectively as advanced practice providers (APPs), are doing a great job administering care to patients in urgent care centers and other settings all over the country. With the worsening physician shortage, their contributions are going to become more and more essential as time goes on. So, it’s more important than ever to ensure that all the clinicians in your urgent care operation are working in concert with each other. …
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Texas has taken some hard knocks for the proliferation of freestanding emergency rooms there—especially in light of criticism of that industry for surprise billing. It seems too many patients walk into a freestanding ED thinking it’s an urgent care center, only to be socked with emergency room-like charges weeks or months later. The upside (for urgent care, anyway) is that the controversies prompted the Texas Association of Health Plans to do a study of cost …
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Last year, urgent care was among the fields to be called out for too often prescribing antibiotics when none was warranted. The data were somewhat misleading, given that urgent care is also a setting to which many antibiotic-seeking patients turn. Nonetheless, the industry collectively took stock of itself and vowed to improve; and the fruits of that labor are already evident, and the world is noticing. The Urgent Care Association, for one, created an Antibiotic …
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All the clinical expertise in the world won’t help you treat patients efficiently and properly if the tools of your trade aren’t in perfect working order. And in order to ensure the medical equipment you’ve invested so much in is up to performing its intended task, you’ve got to be aware of current standards. The Urgent Care Association will offer insights into how you can stay ahead of the need for calibration, preventive maintenance, and …
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued new, interim guidelines on assessing and treating patients with lung disease that could have been caused by use of e-cigarettes. The guidance emphasizes that close follow-up is needed, in light of cases in which “some patients who initially had mild symptoms experienced a rapid worsening of symptoms within 48 hours.” The CDC says it will continue to refine its recommendations as new data emerge. As of …
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As business operators, we probably think of our obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) mostly as they relate to employees. However, a recent case in Connecticut serves as a reminder that patient rights also fall under the ADA umbrella. An operator there is learning the consequences of that oversight as we speak. It all started when parents brought their child, who lives with a developmental disability, to the urgent care center …
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Regular readers of JUCM News (or any local or national mainstream news source) know that the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases has been rising for years—to the extent that there were 2.4 million new infections last year alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cases of syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia are at all-time highs, and the CDC says it’s concerned about an increase in the number of newborn babies who have syphilis. …
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