Practice Management
The 40th annual report on the state of the health of Americans from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides insights on the impact of changes in the healthcare landscape, including the years that saw urgent care grow from the “doc in a box” (in the public’s perception, anyway) to the sophisticated, integral part of the healthcare system that it is recognized as today. The CDC’s Health, United States, 2016 reports on long-term trends …
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We see lots of public service announcements and signs every summer warning against the dangers of locking pets in hot cars. Less publicized are the everyday dangers of people sweating profusely in extreme heat without drinking enough water. Providence Urgent Care noted that with an advisory to residents around its locations, and garnered media attention in the Spokane, WA area in the process. Revealing that they see patients with symptoms of dehydration much more frequently …
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says providers have been clamoring for an update of the 1995 and 1997 guidelines for evaluation-and-management (E/M) codes—and it may be ready to oblige them. If it goes forward, the plan would take years to implement and focus mainly on revising the history and physical exam portion of a patient encounter. The aim, according to CMS, would be to simplify and better align E/M coding and documentation, presuming …
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Hospital-owned urgent care centers—many of which became “hospital-owned” thanks to a relatively generous 50% reimbursement rate for off-campus patient visits—may be taking a substantial hit if the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services follows through on a plan to cut that rate by half. Hospital administrators say even though running off-campus clinics increases their operating budgets, they enable health systems to offer more patients access to cost-effective care. On the other hand, the Trump administration …
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Urgent care operator American Family Care (AFC) has inked an investment deal worth $1 billion with the private equity and real estate firm American Development Partners. The funds will be put to work expanding AFC’s presence around the country, with the expectation that 300 more franchises will open under the AFC banner (currently, there are 170). AFC is quick to note that the company will not change hands, and that it will continue to invest …
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MinuteClinic has made its name by giving customers shots and offering immediate care for low-acuity infections (ie, those for which prescriptions can be dispensed within the store). Now, however, it has announced a plan to partner with Alere eScreen to provide occupational medicine-type services for employers—most notably, including drug screens. The plan is to contract with companies who will send their workers to the CVS-operated clinics for biometric screenings, vaccinations, and Department of Transportation physicals, …
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Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD says his agency needs to do more to help stem the opioid-addiction epidemic in the United Sates. For starters, he wants the FDA to impose stricter guidelines for prescribing immediate-release opioid drugs. The first step will be for the agency to expand training for physicians, nurses, and other providers who administer immediate-release opioids. While there is already training available, the FDA says it will now broaden information …
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Think about the last promotional pen you used, or the sticky-pad you wrote on with it. It’s likely you don’t remember where you picked up either of them (even if it was the same place). Now, imagine that you used a tick remover that was given to you to remove a blood-sucking parasite from your child’s arm. You probably know where that one came from. PhysicianOne Urgent Care hit on that very idea when it …
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Trustees for the actual Medicare trust fund say it will be insolvent by 2029, a year later than predicted by the Obama administration last year. The year before that, the Congressional Budget Office foresaw the program running dry in 2026. This means the infamous Independent Payment Advisory Board—devised by the designers of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”) to put the brakes on Medicare spending if costs grew faster than a predetermined rate—will not …
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The U.S. departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Justice (DOJ) have announced charges against 412 defendants in the largest healthcare fraud action yet by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force. Among those charged are 115 doctors, nurses, and other licensed medical professionals. More than 120 of the defendants are charged with taking part in prescribing and distributing opioids, as well as other narcotics. All told, the alleged fraud schemes amount to $1.3 billion in …
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