Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

New Vaccines Recommended for Adults and Children in 2016

Urgent care practices that focus on helping patients stay up to date on immunization—such as occupational medicine and travel medicine providers, or those that cater to seniors and families with children—take note: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has made a few changes in its recommendations this year. For adults, a recently licensed meningococcal serogroup B vaccine and human papillomavirus vaccine have been added, and the recommendation for pneumococcal vaccination has been revised from …

Prosecutors Vigilant to Questionable Medicare Bonuses

A settlement with a billing company in Massachusetts is just the latest outcome of federal prosecutors going after healthcare companies for return of Medicare bonuses claimed in error. It’s a reminder that filing for claims improperly—even if inadvertently—can have serious consequences for operators. In this case, Medical Reimbursement Systems Inc. has agreed to pay $500,000 to settle allegations that it submitted false claims to the military’s Tricare program on behalf of a medical practice in …

Optum Vows Continued, Dramatic Growth in Urgent Care Acquisitions

UnitedHealth’s OptumCare division already runs over 160 urgent care centers in 14 states by virtue of having bought MedExpress, but it plans to have “several multiples of that number five years from now.” That’s what Optum CEO and UnitedHealth Group vice chair Larry Renfro told a group of analysts recently, citing provider revenues as a key growth factor for the company. Already the largest payer in the U.S., UnitedHealth joins HCA Holdings and Tenet Healthcare …

Uncle Sam Picks Up Two-Thirds of the Healthcare Check

Even as private citizens continue to pay a greater percentage of their paychecks for healthcare, new data say that the government is picking up the biggest portion of healthcare spending overall—64.3% as of 2013. Of particular note, Medicare spending rose about 2.5% between 1999 and 2013. The data, which are published online in the American Journal of Public Health, reflect direct government payments for Medicare, Medicaid, and other public programs (eg, the Veterans Health Administration, …

Balance Billing Takes a Hit in Tallahassee

The Florida legislature’s House Insurance & Banking Subcommittee has put its stamp of approval on a proposal to protect patients from surprise charges after discharge from the emergency room. As written, the bill would make insurers pay for emergency services and include an arbitration process to resolve differences between insurers and healthcare providers; patients themselves would be removed from that process. Several states have already enacted similar legislation, with still more—including Florida—moving toward doing the …

Think Tank Says Aetna–Humana Deal Would Make Seniors Pay More

The Center for American Progress (CAP), a Washington, DC-based think tank, says senior citizens will be forced to pay higher Medicare Advantage premiums if Aetna’s proposed acquisition of Humana goes through. Aetna currently holds 7% of that market and Humana 19%. While their combined share of the entire current Medicare market would still be just 8%, Anthem has also moved to buy Cigna Corp. The combined effect of such deals could cut competition and result …

New Study: Youth Sports Injuries Always in Season

Visits to the emergency room for sports injuries in children between the ages of 5 and 18 years rose every year from 2001 to 2013, with three quarters of those injuries attributed to football, soccer, baseball, and basketball, according to new data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. All told, there were nearly half a million emergent injuries in 100 hospital emergency departments during the study period—translating to an …

Harris Poll is Good News for Docs, Great Intel for Urgent Care

A new Harris Poll found that 88% of patients are “satisfied” with their last visit to the doctor, with 53% saying they are “very satisfied.” Digging deeper, though, you find data that can make or break that perception. A provider’s knowledge, training, and expertise were the most important attributes, but more than half of respondents also said the doctor’s ability to access their medical history, time spent with the doctor, and good communication matter significantly. …

Can Urgent Care Help Abate Astronomical Spike in Health Costs?

Families in the U.S. could be spending up to 45% of their household income on healthcare costs within the next two decades, according to a new study from the Pioneer Institute of Boston. The best-case scenario, according to the report, would be that health-insurance premiums rise by 4% annually, along with the same rate of increase for out-of-pocket costs. By 2035, those expenses would consume nearly a quarter of the family’s budget, up from 16% in …

‘Patient Experience’ Trend May Favor Urgent Care

Healthcare payment reform may be giving urgent care a leg up on the local emergency room, according to a new white paper from Press Ganey. While positive “patient experience” scores enable hospitals to collect greater reimbursement, tight margins require sharper focus on clinical care than ever before. In addition, pressure to keep household expenses down is pushing many patients (ie, customers) to consider their options more carefully, especially for lower-acuity complaints like those tailor-made for …

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