Practice Management
Baptist Health South Florida is encouraging patients who are concerned they may have been exposed to Zika virus, but who do not have symptoms, to visit the system’s urgent care centers in order to prevent clutter in its emergency rooms. That news comes on the heels of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adding another location for pregnant women to avoid in Florida, along with suggestions that they and their sexual partners consider postponing …
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The rapid growth of freestanding emergency rooms—as well as consumer outrage over controversial billing practices—continues to draw the attention of researchers and legislators around the country. Most typically found in affluent neighborhoods, some freestanding emergency centers can be hard to distinguish from lower cost urgent care centers, setting expectations for some patients that they’ll receive an urgent care-size bill. When the cost more closely resembles the cost of a trip to the ED, patients cry …
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Anecdotal evidence that urgent care is a safe, lower-cost alternative to the emergency room and a more convenient setting than the primary care office is abundant. What about properly designed research that provides hard data, though? The Urgent Care Association of America has made great strides toward validating industry standards with its annual, voluntary benchmarking survey, but otherwise the industry has lagged in researching itself. Now Intermountain Healthcare has taken a step toward filling the …
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Banner Health has acquired 32 urgent care centers in Arizona from Urgent Care Extra. The centers will be rebranded as Banner Urgent Care October 1. Banner says it expects to have 50 urgent care centers in Arizona by the end of 2017. More than 400 Urgent Care Extra employees will join the 40,000 Banner employees in Arizona. The system is the largest private employer in Arizona. Banner also operates hospitals in seven western states.
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For the second year in a row (and third time in 4 years), American Family Care (AFC) has earned a place on the Inc. 5000 list, which ranks the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. The company was #1,298 on the list year, but rose to 1,010 this year. AFC also ranked as the fastest growing health-related company in the U.S., based on revenue growth of >300% for the second straight year. AFC was an …
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Adolescents—and parents and other adults who supervise their athletic endeavors and physical activities—should be getting more education about the signs, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of concussions, according to a new study published in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine. Researchers evaluated the health records of 8.8 million Humana members, 43,884 of whom were diagnosed with a concussion. The highest incidence was in the 15-19 age group, followed by 10- to 14-year-olds. More than half (56%) …
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The North East Regional Urgent Care Association launched its annual conference last fall, with the goal of creating an exceptional urgent care learning and network opportunity. This year the two-day meeting will be held October 24-25 at the Crystal Springs Resort, a four-season mountain destination located in Sussex County, NJ, an hour from New York City. The conference will feature three valuable education tracks for leadership, nurses and MAs, and providers. (This activity has been …
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As the urgent care industry moves forward, other specialties seek to get on board by establishing niche markets within the urgent care industry. Across the United States, subspecialty urgent care such as orthopedic urgent care, pediatric urgent care, and psychiatric urgent care, etc. are already trying to establishing themselves within the urgent care industry. As these facilities become more specialized and exclusive, the question must be asked: Are these subspecialty facilities urgent care—or just marketing …
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The ongoing “consumerization” of healthcare—evidenced by the continuing growth of urgent care, telehealth and other patient-convenience trends—is one key factor in how medical facilities and related operations are fueling a boom in local real estate markets. As medical practice moves away from a hospital-centric model toward a culture more similar to a retail appearance, existing spaces need to be adapted to accommodate private exam and x-ray areas, offer comfortable waiting rooms, and assure adequate parking …
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Previous analysis of how viable telemedicine could become has focused on providing access for residents of underserved rural areas and cutting down on lost productivity time for employees. Now, with state legislatures around the country approving laws that demand parity for telemedicine, employers and payers are looking more closely at the economics of offering coverage for remote physician encounters. IHS Technology projects that annual spending on telehealth will rise to $2.2 billion in 2018, up …
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