Practice Management
While it’s a bit unclear exactly whom it applies to at this point, Los Angeles just passed an ordinance mandating that workers at “certain private healthcare facilities” earn a minimum wage of $25 an hour. The question is which facilities that label will apply to in the eyes of the city. Some of them are straightforward in the language of the ordinance—licensed acute psychiatric hospital as defined in Section 1250(b) of the California Health and …
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One of the knocks against using nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid) to treat patients with SARS-CoV-2 has been that it could send patients running to the emergency room, and possibly face hospitalization, for rebound COVID-19. It’s enough to discourage some people from taking it, even if they’re high risk for poor outcomes with COVID. According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, however, those patients should be more concerned about the consequences of not …
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For most urgent care visits, the ball is in the patient’s hand. They feel sick and can’t wait for their primary care physician or in the emergency room, so they head to your location. There are times when the urgent care operator may want to reverse roles, though, and get in touch with patients, such as to remind them it’s time for a vaccination. According to research just published by JAMA Network Open, texting has …
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A Chicago urgent care operator is the latest healthcare facility to be the target of a data breach with the potential to expose the healthcare records and other sensitive information of more than a hundred thousand patients. It’s believed that the breach, which is thought to have occurred over several days in May, was the result of hackers intentionally trying to access the system. While the potential consequences of that to patients are obvious, don’t …
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Some metropolitan public health officials across the country have complained about poor distribution of tests for monkeypox since the slow and steady uptick of cases in the United States began in May. Most recently, New York City declared a state of emergency in order to expand access to resources to fight outbreaks there. And with nearly 3,500 U.S. cases confirmed according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Health and Human …
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Dollar General Aims to Supply Healthcare to the Underserved. Drugstore Clinics Should Take Note Dollar General has seen a lot of succes swhere many retailers couldn’t be bothered—by offering low prices with sometimes minimal selection to customers who may not have many other options. It’s worked, though, with some of their stores evolving to offer the only access to fresh fruits and vegetables for miles around when mom-and-pop grocery stores in rural communities close up …
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Not too many urgent care operators can boast that they offer top-notch medical care at any hour of any day, to any patient population. The urgent care center at the James E. Van Zandt VA Medical Center in Altoona, PA is set to join their ranks on August 1, though, offering those who have served this country nearly unprecedented access whenever they need it. In a report broadcast by WTAJ news, facility director Sigrid Andrew …
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You just can’t beat Amazon when it comes to stocking items on the back-to-school list once everything’s been sufficiently picked over at Staples and Walmart. The company has tried in various ways to capitalize on its good name in entering the healthcare marketplace, to no avail. Now they’re trying a different tactic: buying an already established concern. The virtual retail colossus announced a $3.9 billion deal to take over One Medical and its 125 brick-and-mortar …
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JUCM noted some time ago that the COVID-19 pandemic has been taking a toll on urgent care workers (see The COVID-19 Pandemic Is Making Burnout Worse for Physicians Already in Crisis). Now a new report published by JAMA Network Open is providing data bearing that out—along with a possibly surprising nuance. Childcare challenges and other issues related to the pandemic have amounted to increased stress and burnout, leaving an ever-growing number of healthcare providers looking …
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You want the best, most reliable clinicians for your patients. And their performance is essential to your future success. There’s more to capability than experience and clinical skill, however, and there could be red flags in an otherwise stellar candidate’s past that they’d be unlikely to mention in an interview. The headlines out of Clallam County, Washington offer a bracing reminder of that as an emergency room physician there has been arrested and charged with …
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