Practice Management
The business of urgent care may be taking care of patients, but that business won’t last long without sound financial practices. Understanding that the money coming in has to be more than the money going out doesn’t take a whole lot of acumen; truly grasping how to maximize the process for the current health and future growth of the business is another thing, however. The Urgent Care Association of America has invited speaker Dan Phillips …
Read More
Chronic pain patients who completed a comprehensive, multidisciplinary pain rehabilitation program used significantly fewer healthcare resources in a study presented at the American Academy of Pain Medicine’s 2018 annual meeting. The only exception was in behavioral health, in which access increased. Over the course of the 3-week program, patients with chronic (≥3 months) noncancer pain were able to access physical, occupational, and medical therapies and taper the doses of opioids prescribed to them. Researchers analyzed …
Read MoreMedicare reimbursements to many freestanding emergency rooms will be cut significantly if a new recommendation by the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee (MedPAC) is implemented. MedPAC voted unanimously to reduce reimbursements to off-campus, 24-hour hospital EDs located in urban areas within 6 miles of an on-campus ED by 30%. According to an Erdman analysis of the proposal, freestanding, off-campus EDs typically have lower operating costs than on-campus EDs but receive the same Medicare payments—giving them higher …
Read MoreHealthcare merger-mania hasn’t forgotten about the telehealth business, as American Well revealed that it will acquire Avizia. The appeal for American Well will be to expand its acute care offerings, as Avizia’s hospital-based business reflects more than 40 clinical specialties, including telestroke and telebehavioral health services. At the same time, Avizia said it expects that the newly expanded company “will offer…[an] enterprise telehealth platform for urgent care, chronic disease management, acute care, and postacute care.” …
Read More
Due to its oversight by the federal government, TRICARE is challenged with limitations that don’t apply to most insurers—one being that they’re not able to offer some of the economic incentives commonly used to push patients to lower-cost care settings. At the same time, the military insurer is held to the same (or higher) standard for keeping costs under control. One strategy its administrators have come up with is a familiar one: Get patients to …
Read More
More choices can often lead to more indecision for patients who need same-day medical care. While many have gotten the message the emergency room should be reserved for emergencies, it’s still an option. Some insurers (like Anthem) are making it tough on patients who make the “wrong” decision by refusing to pick up the tab for some ED visits if they’re later deemed to have been nonemergent. A new app developed by a pair of …
Read More
The ongoing growth of urgent care, among other trends, is at least partially responsible for an increasing scarcity of traditional primary care physicians, according to analysis of new data posted to Advisory Board. Citing research by the Health Care Cost Institute and an article just published in The New York Times, the piece notes that “the emergence of urgent care centers and retail clinics, as well as proliferating mergers between healthcare providers” is lowering patients’ …
Read More
Sutter Health, which counts 32 urgent care clinics, 24 hospitals, and 35 surgery centers among its vast holdings, is the target of a lawsuit from the California attorney general, charging that it engages in anticompetitive practices that drive up prices for consumers and insurers. The suit is also viewed as an indictment of industry consolidation, which is resulting in fewer entities and less competition. While it has declined to comment on the suit specifically, Sutter …
Read More
Depending on who you listen to, responsibility for the opioid crisis in the United States lies with “Big Pharma,” physicians, patients, insurance companies…all of which is true to some extent. It’s a complex problem borne out of a legitimate need to help ease the pain of patients who are suffering. However, a new KevinMD blog post suggests that removing a very noncomplex tool—the pain scale—from patient interactions may be a big step in rebooting how …
Read More
Patients visit your urgent care center because they know they can get excellent care without waiting days for an appointment or languishing for hours in the waiting room. So why do so many seem to disregard your advice for postdischarge care or follow-up just as promptly? Before you shrug and file that in the “just one of those things” folder, bear in mind that your helping them to follow through may cement their positive experience …
Read More