Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Time for Urgent Care to Embrace Telemedicine

Being an industry populated by medical professionals who also happen to be forward-thinking business visionaries, urgent care is likely to see accelerated growth in telemedicine in 2017 and beyond. Conversely, operators who don’t see the benefit run the risk of getting left in the dust, as even large healthcare businesses and networks—typically, slower to adopt new practices than entrepreneurial types—are forging ahead in offering virtual visits. Occupational medicine giant Concentra just announced it is adding …

Let Patients Know When You’re Available Over the Holidays

Last month we told you the day after Thanksgiving is the second busiest day of the year for urgent care centers—with December 26 being the busiest. Some of that volume is due to patients who assumed they either had to head to the emergency room or wait a day or more to get care. If your urgent care center is going to be open Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day, the time to let your …

Understand the Rules—and Code Correctly—When Charging a Facility Fee

Whether an urgent care can bill Place of Service -19 or -22 requires an understanding of the criteria enabling facility code sets. An urgent care joint venture between physicians and a hospital recently inquired about using Place of Service 22 (Outpatient Hospital), enabling facility fees. The key with billing the urgent care as “outpatient hospital” is that it must truly qualify for that service. I have reservations as to whether the urgent care could bill …

Can You Help Stem Nationwide Outbreak of Mumps?

Just weeks ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed there had been more than 2,300 cases of mumps confirmed around the country—more than twice the number that occurred in all of 2015. Today there are over 2,000 under investigation in Arkansas alone, with several other states still reporting higher-than-average outbreaks. Urgent care clinicians in college towns should be aware that campuses in affected areas have been especially hard hit. The University of Missouri …

Marketing Efforts Should Reflect New Technologies, Patient Preferences

A swell of evidence shows more and more that the way patients make choices about healthcare—and even access care—is changing constantly. About 5% of Google searches are for a health-related topic these days, and a Pew Research Center study found 62% of patients have used their smartphones to look up health-related information. And the Mayo Clinic estimates that 84% of patients want to partner with their physicians in making treatment decisions. In other words, patients …

Patients Follow Urgent Care Providers’ Advice for Follow-Up Care

When an urgent care physician suggests that a patient see another clinician for follow-up care, patients usually take that advice, according to a study by the Uniersity of Minnesota and Urgent Care Partners. In fact, 66% not only took the doctor’s advice to seek further care, but went to the specific provider recommended (though a specific provider was recommended just 21% of the time). Overall, 76% of patients who were told to seek follow-up care …

Choose Employee Holiday Gifts Wisely to Strengthen Your Business

Workers have come to expect a certain amount of celebration come holiday time—often including end-of-year bonuses or gifts. This does not have to be a meaningless distraction from ensuring the urgent care runs efficiently and takes care of patients effectively, though; looking beyond “secret Santa” gifts and office parties can actually strengthen employee engagement and loyalty. Physicians Practice magazine suggests focusing on gestures that will be meaningful to the individual, such as the following: A …

Strong Referral Relationships Benefit Urgent Care and Partners

Helping patients manage chronic conditions typically falls to primary care providers or specialists. At the same time, those people are just as likely as other patients to walk into your urgent care center—if not more so. CityMD and Mount Sinai Health System in New York City have teamed up to formalize a referral system that is designed to benefit all parties concerned. Mount Sinai will encourage patients to visit CityMD clinics when they have a …

Positive Reviews Drive Urgent Care Traffic—But You Have to Earn Them

Patient reviews on websites like Yelp can encourage another patient to try a new urgent care center. A high volume of such reviews can improve its ranking in both Google Local and Apple Maps. One New York-based urgent care chain crossed the line—and the law—by paying thousands of dollars for positive reviews over a 2-year-period, though. The reviews in question were not even written by patients; the company engaged ad agencies and freelance writers who …

New Year Brings New CMS Patient Survey—But Probably No New Insights

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will ask Medicare beneficiaries how their healthcare providers are doing under the new Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), which was supposed to help improve the quality of care while lowering cost. No revelations are expected, however, because the survey is voluntary and CMS has taken a relaxed approach to getting providers on board with the new system. In addition, survey results—which, presumably, will be made public to …

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