Practice Management
Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc Practice Velocity Urgent care requires dedicated, engaged, and focused frontline staff members to deliver the types of patient experiences that spur repeat visits and positive word of mouth. Yet a Gallup poll conducted in 2014 showed that a paltry 32% of U.S. workers are truly engaged in their jobs.1 That means that more than two-thirds of America’s workforce is simply going through the motions—which engagement experts have clearly demonstrated has a …
Read MoreLast month, in our March 2016 issue, we reported data for 2014 on the top 20 medications prescribed in U.S. urgent care centers. This month, we bring you percentages for the next 20 most-prescribed medications (items 21–40). The data were obtained as part of the 2014 Urgent Care Chart Survey of 150 million annual visits by patients to more than 800 different urgent care clinics. The survey was conducted by the Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. The survey’s methodology …
Read MoreQ. The coding staff has relayed to me that we can now bill for times when my clinical staff must spend extra time with a patient. Is this true? What are the requirements for documentation? A. Yes, two new Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes added in 2016 by the American Medical Association allow you to bill for clinical staff members’ time spent with a patient above and beyond what is considered to be the usual amount of time. …
Read MoreUrgent message: Government financial enticements for whistleblowing have resulted in a sharp rise in employee reports against their health-care employers. Urgent care centers can protect themselves by identifying potentially litigious employees, having a wellpublicized compliance program, and by establishing internal reporting procedures. Introduction In recent years, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of whistle-blower lawsuits in the health-care industry. Because these lawsuits reap huge payouts for the federal government, whistle-blowers are monetarily enticed to report their employers to government agencies rather …
Read More
Urgent message: To ensure a high quality of patient care and reduce the risk of medical errors while also controlling administrative overhead, every urgent care center should have a clear policy and process for radiologist interpretation of x-ray images, image over-read, or both. IntroductionAs health-care costs continue to multiply, it is important to consider money-saving measures across the board. Radiography is an essential service in differentiating urgent care centers from primary care and other providers, …
Read MoreData from the 2014 Urgent Care Chart Survey of 150 million visits by patients to more than 800 different urgent care clinics, conducted by the Journal of Urgent Care Medicine, reveal that the top three most-prescribed medications at U.S. urgent care centers were, in descending order: Zithromax (azithromycin), for 12.12% of visits Amoxil (amoxicillin), for 8.25% of visits Deltasone (prednisone), for 7.07% of visits The top 20 medications are shown here. We will report on …
Read MoreQ. How do I use Excludes 1 and Excludes 2 instructions in International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10CM)? A. Put simply, the Excludes 1 notation means that you cannot code any excluded code with the main (listed) code. Conditions listed with Excludes 1 are mutually exclusive. For example, code E11 (type 2 diabetes mellitus) has an Excludes 1 notation with the following codes listed: Diabetes mellitus due to underlying condition (E08.-) Drug …
Read MoreUrgent message: Urgent care providers subject to the privacy regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 need compliant procedures for handling patient requests for medical records, including transfer of patient records to other providers. U.S. federal and state laws require providers to allow patients access to their medical records. This includes records supplied by another provider (e.g., a specialist who has forwarded a report to the primary-care physician) that may be …
Read More
Urgent message: Creating and cultivating cohesive, goal-oriented, and patient-focused urgent care teams starts with visible front-line leaders who emphasize a strong service culture, open communication, personal accountability, and management transparency. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc Practice Velocity Introduction The stress, resentment, and dissatisfaction that one experiences being part of a disconnected and ineffective team are not easily forgotten. Common sense may lead one to believe that the safest path is to ignore the team’s dysfunction and consider it just a part of …
Read MoreData from the 2014 Urgent Care Chart Survey of 1,778,075 blinded visits by patients to more than 800 different urgent care clinics, conducted by the Journal of Urgent Care Medicine, reveal that for 2014, the top three diagnosis codes at U.S. urgent care centers involved, in descending order: Wounds,15.9% Sinusitis, 11.4% Respiratory conditions, other, 11.2% The bottom three diagnosis codes involved, in descending order: Influenza, 1.6% Tonsillitis, 1.5% Gynecologic issues, 1.5% The survey’s methodology and …
Read More