Practice Management
A clinic in Tucson, AZ is trying to take the convenience factor of urgent care to the next level by offering patients access to specialists on site. Urgent Specialists is the first in the state to have board-certified specialists in ophthalmology, orthopedics, and otolaryngology on staff—removing the need to immediately refer patients whose symptoms may be a bit more complicated than is typically seen in the urgent care setting. As with all urgent care centers, …
Read More
More than half of Americans between 18 and 34 years of age say they don’t plan to get a flu shot this year, with cost being a key factor. Of the 2,080 adults surveyed by CityMD Urgent Care surveyed last month, 433 were “millennials”; only 48% of them said they plan to get a flu shot. Those who don’t plan to get one cited disbelief that the vaccination would keep them from getting the flu …
Read More
LCMC Health, a nonprofit healthcare system that operates hospitals in the New Orleans area, says it’s going to create a network of seven urgent care clinics in the same area starting next spring. Over the course of 18 months, LCMC plans to buy an undetermined number of existing locations and build the rest in new locations. LCMC is working with Baton Rouge-based Premier Health on this project. Premier Health owns 40 urgent care clinics, many …
Read More
A new survey seems to indicate that it may take a long time—or more resources than you might think—for patients to understand their options for virtual care. Two large health systems rolled out their plans to offer virtual care in Iowa more than a year ago, but most residents still don’t get it. That’s bad news for the plans, but it also means the intended goal of offering virtual care in the first place—namely, slowing …
Read More
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has again revised its recommendations on how long men who could have been exposed to the Zika virus should wait before trying to conceive, or to have unprotected sex at all. The CDC now says man should wait 6 months—up from 8 weeks—before having sex without a condom even if they have no symptoms. The new guidance is intended to minimize the likelihood of transmitting the virus before …
Read More
The Urgent Care Association (UCA) is partnering with George Washington University’s Antibiotic Resistance Action Center on an initiative to put the brakes on runaway antibiotic resistance. The goal of the 3-year plan is to develop and implement evidence-based practices aimed at preserving the effectiveness of the antibiotics we have available today, namely by promoting responsible use of antibiotics. The fact that urgent care centers see some 160 million patients annually make it the perfect setting …
Read More
Estimates of the number of transgender people in the United States range from just 0.3% to 0.6% of the population. Still, that means up to 1.4 million patients across the country may identify as transgendered. Data show they experience a disproportionate rate of health complications, sometimes due to hesitance to seek care for fear of being discriminated against (or even refused treatment in extreme cases). Given this reluctance to establish primary healthcare relationships, urgent care …
Read More
The case of a Canton, MI urgent care provider charged with 22 counts of medical fraud should serve as a cautionary tale and a reminder that unethical (or even just plain sloppy) billing practices can land operators, office staff, and physicians in hot water—or even jail. The physician in the Michigan case stands accused of billing Medicaid and Blue Cross Blue Shield for services he didn’t provide, resulting in nine counts of Medicaid fraud, 12 …
Read More
While a big hit in France, an app designed to facilitate home visits by a clinician is unlikely to gain traction in the U.S. marketplace. It’s the latest incarnation of trying to provide Uber-like services in healthcare. This model is derived from SOS Médecins, which founder Gaspard de Dreuzy brought across the Atlantic in 2013. He and Uber founder Oscar Salazar dubbed their brainchild Pager, an Uber for home healthcare. Available on the App Store, …
Read More
Progress—especially where technology is concerned—by definition should move your business forward; otherwise it would be called regress. One health system in Ohio is learning the hard way that failing to recognize the cost of moving to a new EHR system can put a serious dent in your annual earnings report. In fact, ProMedica says its $1.9 million first-half loss was “primarily driven by significant expenses due to the implementation of the Epic electronic health record …
Read More