Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Over Half of Kaiser Permanente Member–Physician Encounters Are Now Virtual

Kaiser Permanente’s heavy investment in information technology seems to be paying off, as more than half of the insurer’s 100 million-plus member–physician interactions now take place virtually. Members have said they appreciate the convenience of being able to “see” a doctor outside the office, reflecting broader trends toward healthcare consumerism (especially among young adults). The fact that 95% of Kaiser Permanente members are covered on a capitated basis frees network physicians from worries other clinicians …

Urgent Care Should ‘Watch and Learn’ as Illinois Deals with Medicaid Headaches

Illinois is not unique in wrestling with Medicaid managed care plan problems, but the situation there seems to have reached a boiling point and can serve as a cautionary tale for urgent care stakeholders across the country. Health system officials there complain that getting providers approved by Medicaid managed care plans has taken anywhere from 6 months up to a whole year. Prior authorizations and reimbursements have been similarly slow in coming, making it so …

CDC Warning: Shigella is the Latest Pathogen to Show Signs of Resistance

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a Health Advisory to warn clinicians of emerging Shigella strains with elevated minimum inhibitory concentration values for ciprofloxacin. The advisory outlines new guidance for clinical diagnosis, management, and reporting, and offers new recommendations for laboratories and public health officials. Recent data from the CDC, and from various state and local health agencies, indicate these strains frequently have a quinolone-resistance gene that could lead to clinically significant …

AMA Aims to Help Med Students Work with EHRs

The American Medical Association wants to help medical students deal with the reality of working within electronic health record (EHR) systems. They launched a new program, the brainchild of Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute, to grant med students access to misidentified and deidentified EHR information in the classroom before they enter clerkships in order to address a gap between clinical medical education and practical skills needed in the practice setting. The …

Good Signage Drives Traffic—So Ensure Yours Is Legal

Speakeasies were well-advised to make their locations hard to spot. Urgent care centers, not so much, especially given that patients are not at their best when they’re looking for you, and the industry’s “brand” is so tied in to convenience. Local zoning boards have rules governing location, size, and general appearance of signage, though, so be sure to stay on the right side of the law when devising yours. My Care Urgent Care in Columbus, …

Taking a Cue from OpenTable—for Urgent Care ‘Appointments’

Some of the masterminds behind Uber, Trulia, and OpenTable have set their sights on the urgent care marketplace—not to start operating clinics, but by facilitating patient visits. Solv launched recently with an aim to make “booking” urgent care time in a way similar to how diners use OpenTable to book tables in a restaurant. The company, led by former Trulia executives Heather Mirjahangir Fernandez and Daniele Farnedi, got $6.25 million in funding from Benchmark Capital, …

Could VA Pilot Program Be a Model for Urgent Care?

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) wants to test the viability of allowing veterans covered by their plans to get care at CVS MinuteClinics. The new program, limited to the Phoenix area, is seemingly a response to complaints that veterans notoriously have to wait an inordinate amount of time to see providers at VA health centers. The pilot waves the VA Choice program rule that says veterans must wait 30 days or have to drive …

U.S. Needs to Step Up Efforts to Track MRSA Cooperatively

Various bodies in the United States are devoting significant resources to tracking methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections. However, they’re doing so in “silos” with little coordination from one to the next, which is getting in the way of developing strategies to control the spread of MRSA, according to a report published in Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control. At least one of the organizations cited in the report for tracking and reporting MRSA infections, Tricare, which …

Private Equity Stake in Urgent Care Grows with CityMD Acquisition

Urgent care operator CityMD’s steady expansion in the New York metropolitan area has made it an appealing prospect for private equity, with Warburg Pincus LLC said to be putting down $600 million to bring it into its healthcare fold. CityMD has some 68 locations currently, after starting with a single New York City center in 2010. The company bought one of its competitors, Premier Care, but also built new locations as part of its growth …

The More Cumbersome the EHR System, the Bigger the Drain on Revenue

The more time physicians spend dealing with electronic health record systems, the less money they make and the less time they have for providing care directly to patients, according to new data published in Health Affairs. The article says about half the time physicians spend working in EHR is during patient encounters. The other half of the time—when they’re not with patients, in other words—their time working within the EHR goes uncompensated, essentially. The authors …

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