Practice Management
The retail clinic market might not be the only one affected by CVS Health’s union with Aetna. CVS CEO Larry Merlo has been talking about finding ways for his company to work more closely with physicians for the past year or so. With the Aetna all but in the bag, it may not be too long before that possibility manifests with a dive into the urgent care pool, if a new post on the HealthLeaders …
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Antibiotic stewardship has become something of a buzz phrase in many healthcare settings. Don’t forget what it really means or what’s at stake, though. According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 30% of antibiotics in the United States are prescribed unnecessarily. And for every misguided script, the risk of antibiotic resistance increases. At least 2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics every …
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North Carolina’s Medicaid program has spent at least $75 million for patients to have nonemergency complaints addressed in the emergency room over the past couple of years. According to a new report released by the state, patients have to gone to the ED with primary complaints as mundane as bad breath, sunburn, bunions, and common warts. The report goes on to specify that those concerns—and many more—could be handled much less expensively and just as …
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As this year’s influenza season really gets going, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released a report with some data that should make you sit up and take notice. In fact, it should spur you to action. In a year when flu killed at least 79,000, less than 40% of adults in the United States received the influenza vaccination. The highest death toll in decades coincided with the lowest immunization rate in 7 …
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Patients in 29 states have been diagnosed with Salmonella infection attributed to consuming tainted chicken products. Worse, public health officials say testing shows this particular strain to be resistant to multiple antibiotics often used to treat patients with severe Salmonella infections. No deaths have been reported, but scores of patients have been hospitalized. Ask patients who present with diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps what they’ve eaten in the past 12–72 hours, and consider giving a …
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Treatment and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases may be the particular expertise of clinicians who staff sexual health clinics—but that doesn’t mean those responsibilities are their exclusive domain. Primary care and urgent care will need to step up their game if the current upswing in many STDs is to be turned around, as noted in a recent article from Kaiser Health News. Screening and treatment are both well within the expertise of urgent care providers. …
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For weeks now—predating Hurricane Michael—a toxic “red tide” has been plaguing communities in the Florida panhandle. Schools are canceling some outdoor activities, and classrooms are emptying as urgent care centers are filling up all over Brevard County and beyond. Environmentalists and public health officials in the area say they have no reason to think it’s going to abate any time soon. Until it does, they expect to continue seeing scores of dead fish wash ashore …
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For the first time in two decades, the Food and Drug Administration has approved use of a new drug to treat acute uncomplicated influenza in patients 12 years of age and older who have been symptomatic for ≤48 hours. While that’s great news in the wake of last year’s rough flu season, urgent care providers must be aware of the need for timely diagnosis—and pass that message along to patients. With less than 2 days …
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One out of every six patients who visit an emergency room could see denied claims—and a whopping hospital bill—if a retrospective review policy imposed by Anthem not long ago were adopted by other insurers. A study just published in JAMA Network found that 15.7% of ED visits by commercially insured adults could result in denial of the claim on the grounds that presenting symptoms were found to be nonemergent after the fact. The researchers considered …
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The words chest pain get the immediate attention of clinicians in any practice setting, including urgent care. The question of calculating risk for a major event is not quite as clear-cut, however. One assessment tool, the HEART Score for Major Adverse Cardiac Events (MACE), has been validated to predict 6-week risk of major adverse cardiac events in patients 21 years of age and older presenting with symptoms suggestive of acute coronary syndrome. Michael Weinstock, MD, led a live …
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