Practice Management
About a quarter of all healthcare consumers have been the victims of healthcare data breaches, according to a new study by Accenture—and nearly have of those people ended up victims of medical identity theft. The cost? On average, $2,500 in out-of-pocket costs per incident, paid by the victim. Breaches were most likely to occur in hospitals, though urgent care centers, pharmacies, physician offices, and health insurers were also fertile ground for hackers and identity thieves. …
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The Urgent Care Association (UCA) has petitioned Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, MD to delay implementation of Stage 3 of the Meaningful Use program, as well as “Stage 3-like” measures in the MIPS program, indefinitely. UCA joined with 15 other organizations in crafting a letter that also requested that eligible clinicians not be required to move to EHR technology certified to the 2015 edition. Release of proposed requirements for MIPS and APMs …
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While previous attempts have crashed and burned, proposed new legislation could move California one step closer to a single-payer healthcare system. Proponents in the state senate say it is the “intent of the Legislature” to enact such a law “for the benefit of everyone in the state.” However, specific details and a prospective timetable have not been revealed. If it does pass and ultimately get signed into law, the measure would replace private insurance in …
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CareNow, a division of Hospital Corporation of America operating 26 centers in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, has a membership program for patients without insurance. It appeals particularly to patients with high-deductible health plans who will be responsible, out of pocket, for the costs of their urgent care visits and thus choose to not use their insurance. CareNow charges $18/month for the membership and $68 for sick visits with the membership. Complex procedures, such as incision & …
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A new Cochrane Database review finds that while there’s a lot of chatter about the success of retail clinics, hard data on their effectiveness has yet to materialize. Chen et al, searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, and six other databases, as well as two trial registers, and conducted reference checking and citations searching, looking for any trials and controlled before–after studies. While they acknowledge “retail clinics have become popular alternatives to traditional physician offices and emergency …
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Alabama says it’s just trying to protect its coffers from being pilfered by criminals, but the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is taking a hard look at how the state is handling cases of alleged fraud by Medicaid enrollees. The state acknowledges that it rejects people who would otherwise be eligible for Medicaid funding if those individuals “have been found” to have engaged in fraud—even if they were never convicted of a crime, which …
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Metro Urgent Care is set to launch a major expansion in Colorado, with plans to more than double its footprint by opening 25 new clinics in the Centennial State over the next 6 months. Currently, it has 20 locations there. While such aggressive plans speak to both the company’s past success and faith in the continued growth of the urgent care market, it’s interesting to note that it is choosing to promote its expansion as …
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One side will say it’s a restoration of freedom of speech for doctors concerned about a legitimate public health issue. The other will say it’s a step down the slippery slope toward unfair restrictions on the right to bear arms. Either way, a federal appeals court says physicians in Florida are free to ask patients if they own a gun whether the question is medically relevant at the time or not. The decision effectively overturns …
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Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia and Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield in New York are the latest insurers to require that urgent care centers become accredited before contracting, or as a requirement to maintain in-network status. As noted in a recent posting by Becker’s Hospital Review, such policies highlight growing demand for healthcare providers in all settings to demonstrate both value and quality care—both of which have long been touted as attributes of well-run …
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The next decade will see national health expenditures grow 5.6% annually, according to projections from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), ensuring that the need for cost-effective, high-quality care will continue to grow as well. If CMS’s Office of the Actuary is correct in its estimate, the jump in healthcare spending will outpace projected growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 1.2%. The portion of the GDP consumed by healthcare spending is …
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