Practice Management
When EHR vendor eClinicalWorks agreed to a $155 million settlement over charges that it falsified claims for federal incentive payments, it probably thought the damage would be mainly financial. Months later, though, it’s paying a steeper price in more precious currency: customer opinions. A new report from KLAS Research reveals that 66% of eClinicalWorks customers say their opinion of the company is lower than it was when the settlement was announced in May (with 26% …
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Residents who call 911 for immediate medical care could find themselves getting a lift from a rideshare to a local urgent care center instead of riding in an ambulance, sirens wailing, to the emergency room thanks to a pilot program Las Vegas Fire launched in Las Vegas. With more than two thirds of its roughly 600,000 annual calls being for medical assistance, the fire department was looking for ways to cut costs but not the …
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U.S. emergency rooms saw more patients than ever in 2014, but that doesn’t necessarily mean urgent care isn’t getting its message out. New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that over 141 million people ran to the ED that year (compared with 130 million the previous year), but some top reasons tended to be complaints for which it would not be appropriate to visit an urgent care center—chest pain chief among …
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Physicians, including urgent care providers, may be taking more than their share of the blame for the ongoing opioid crisis in the U.S., according to a report by The New York Times and ProPublica. While some public officials and media outlets have accused doctors of, essentially, enabling opioid addiction by prescribing narcotic pain medications too liberally, data show that prices set by insurers may be steering doctors and patients alike away from less-addictive alternatives. Opioid …
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Research has proven that workers who feel free to give constructive feedback about their jobs and their employers stay longer. The challenge, according to a new article published in the Harvard Business Review and reviewed online by Advisory Board, is getting them to feel comfortable enough to provide that feedback. Many workers feel any comments perceived as negative will be used against them, while others assume management doesn’t really want to hear it so any …
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Urgent care has made its mark by delivering good care to people on a walk-in basis. Those patients with sore throats, lacerations, and other complaints could have chosen to be treated in a primary care office, but realized their symptoms were such that waiting a few days was a miserable (or possibly dangerous) proposition. Some patients with mental health complaints find themselves in the same position—or worse, considering they might not already be aligned with …
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Hospitals in parts of Florida that were hit hard by Hurricane Irma are open for business and fully staffed, but they’ve got so many patients coming in with hurricane-related injuries and illness that the EDs are overflowing. Some of them have put out the word that urgent care would be a better place to go right now for nonemergent complaints, pointing out that they will be treated more quickly while also easing the burden at …
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Code 3 Emergency Partners is betting that an enclosed location where 65,000 people work and 65 million people pass through every year is probably a good place to set up an urgent care clinic. So they did, at D/FW International Airport in Dallas/Fort Worth. The clinic has the same capability to treat infections and lacerations, to take x-rays, and run ultrasounds as any other urgent care center—and a constant stream of passersby and workers who …
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Now that the U.S. has been battered by two hurricanes in quick succession from Texas to the Southeast, the urgent care community seems to have doubled its efforts to provide relief to those affected. In addition to efforts aimed at helping victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas, East Coast urgent care operators are doing what they can for those caught in the path of Hurricane Irma. Florida Hospital announced it’s offering free video visits “until …
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Providence Health System wants to replace its 408-bed hospital in Washington, DC with a “health village” that will include urgent care and primary care facilities, a telehealth operation, and expanded post-acute care services. They also plan to include recreation space, such as walking trails, on the 30-acre property. Providence says there are simply too many hospital beds in its market, and that the health village concept is one that will better serve the surrounding community. …
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