Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

CDC Shifts Focus—and Ebola Funds—in Fight Against Zika

As concerns surface that a warm summer may spread Zika virus to New York City and Los Angeles, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has opted to take $589 million earmarked for Ebola virus initiatives and apply it to fighting Zika instead. The CDC has also warned that the mosquito that carries Zika is on the move. While initial reports suggested that U.S. Zika cases were limited to individuals who had traveled to affected …

U.S. Tuberculosis Cases Up for the First Time in 23 Years

After a decades-long slog toward elimination of tuberculosis in the United States, 2015 saw a slight increase in the number of domestic TB cases. While around half of all reported cases occurred in Texas, California, Florida, and New York, 29 states and the District of Columbia reported increases over 2014. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that lower funding of TB prevention programs may be on reason, urgent care clinicians faced with …

Denver Health Loses a CEO, Gains an Urgent Care Profile

Denver Health is ready to join the ranks of health systems that are diversifying its service offerings to include urgent care—and will do so in a big way, but without Arthur Gonzalez. Chief executive officer since 2012, Gonzalez resigned just a week before the opening of a $27 million, 4,500-square-foot clinic that will house an urgent care center, along with primary care and specialty services. The new complex will sit in an underserved section of …

Blue Cross Blue Shield: ACA Enrollees Less Healthy, More Expensive

A new report from Blue Cross Blue Shield reveals that its Affordable Care Act enrollees are sicker and more expensive than its other plan members, as a whole. In fact, they’re nearly twice as likely to be admitted to hospitals. One reason will come as no surprise to critics of the ACA, or “Obamacare:” People who were uninsured and less healthy in the first place have signed up in droves. The act requires participating insurers …

U.S. Workers More Concerned with Cost than Choice of Providers

Cost appears to be more important than choice of physician for U.S. workers, according to a new survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Premiums were cited as a “major factor” when choosing a health plan by 79% of participants, compared with only 53% who cited a plan’s provider network. These data align well with key attributes of the urgent care setting (eg, easy access, relatively low cost, and convenience). Only 66% said they are …

Virtual Medicine Better for Some Complaints than Others—Depending on the Provider

Virtual medicine works better for some presenting complaints than others—and varies widely by provider—according to a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Researchers looked at how eight provider companies performed in recognizing, ordering tests, and diagnosing treatment for six common conditions. Though the study was not designed with urgent care in mind, the presentations included reflect common reasons for urgent care visits. Diagnostic accuracy was highest for recurrent female urinary tract infection (91%) and …

Urgent Care Costs Less than the ED for Pediatric Medicaid Patients

Visits to urgent care resulted in lower costs and a lower rate of return visits compared with visits to the emergency room among younger Medicaid patients with low acuity symptoms, as reflected in a new study in published in Pediatrics. Researchers at Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City, MO and Children’s Hospital Association in Overland Park, KS looked at 5.9 million ED and urgent care visits by Medicaid-covered children between 2010 and 2012. …

Despite Poor Comparisons vs Urgent Care, Hedge Fund Gambles on Freestanding ERs

Patients, politicians, and insurers have been united in complaining that freestanding emergency rooms don’t offer sufficient transparency when it comes to billing practices, but that hasn’t stopped hedge-fund guru Steven Cohen from gobbling up 5% of First Choice Emergency Rooms parent company Adeptus Health. The backlash against freestanding ERs has coincided with a growing awareness that urgent care is a viable, more accessible, and less expensive option for many patients. A study by Anthem Blue …

UnitedHealthcare Tries to Cut Costs with ‘Free’ Primary Care

UnitedHealthcare (UHC) is testing a no-cost primary care model to see if it equates to greater use of preventive care and, ultimately, lower costs for the company. It farmed out the program to Harken Health, which gives members unlimited no-fee access to primary care services and a 24-hour helpline, a personal health coach, psychological counseling, and classes in fitness and nutrition. Access is limited at this point, however, as Harken has just six clinics in …

‘Rampant’ Medicare Overbilling Highlights Need for Cost-Efficient Care

Medicare was overbilled by 12.1% in 2015, thanks to improper fee-for-service reimbursements in 21 states, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). That’s up from 8.6% just five years ago, making it one of the highest error rates in history. Louisiana was the worst offender, with an overbilling average of 19.4%—equating to over $1.2 billion in excess fees. Texas and Georgia also showed over a billion dollars in overcharges to Medicare last …