DAVID STERN, MD (Practice Velocity) Q.Our urgent care practice serves a 70-physician primary care group. The UC uses the three-year rule; if the patient has been seen by any physician in the medical group within the last three years, he/she is an established patient even if the patient has never been previously seen in the urgent care. A comparable UC center in a nearby city applies the three-year rule differently; if the patient has been …
Read MoreHiring the Best Occupational Health Sales Professionals
Do you hire an experienced salesperson and train him or her in occupational health, or hire an occupational health professional and train that person in sales? The former brings sales experience but needs to learn the “product;” the latter brings product knowledge but needs to learn fundamental sales skills. Given this choice, my answer is the former. It is easier to train an experienced salesperson in product knowledge than vice versa. However, there are numerous …
Read MoreThe “O-Ring” in Medical Malpractice Cases
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP The moment is forever etched in my mind. It occurred while I was in my fourth year of medical school during a radiology rotation in Scottsdale, AZ. I was doing everything I could not to fall asleep while sitting in the dark film-reading room, listening to a tonally flat radiologist dictate plain film reports. I got up to splash some cold water on my face and as I was …
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Playing to Win: Maximizing Profits in Urgent Care
Urgent message: The financial health of your practice depends on a balanced approach that takes into account both increasing income and reducing expenses. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc, Experity From an economic perspective, the independent urgent care owner/operator has a dual goal: to build the long-term value of the medical practice while maximizing cash that can be taken out of the business in the form of income. To achieve both of these goals—to expand revenues …
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Creating a Health Surveillance Product Line
Urgent message: Keeping patients able to perform their jobs is critical to the success of an urgent care occupational medicine program. Donna Lee Gardner, RN, MS, MBA To best meet the needs of employers, an urgent care occupational medicine (UCOM) clinic should feature five basic product lines: • health surveillance • injury/loss management • rehabilitation • prevention services • on-site services This article will address the first of these product lines, health surveillance; the other …
Read MoreDeveloping Data: March, 2008
As an emerging distinct practice environment, urgent care is in the early stages of building a data set specific to its norms and practices. In Developing Data, JUCM will offer results not only from UCA’s annual benchmarking surveys, but also from research conducted elsewhere to present an expansive view of the healthcare marketplace in which urgent care seeks to strengthen its presence. In this issue: How do patients view the importance of “emotional support” from …
Read MoreReaders’ Coding Inquiries
DAVID STERN, MD (Practice Velocity) Q.How would you define the difference between an expanded problem-focused exam and the detailed exam in the 1995 evaluation and management coding guidelines? – Question submitted by Eddie Stahl, Medical Staff Director, Tennessee Urgent Care Associates A.For both the expanded problem-focused exam (EPF) and the detailed exam, the provider must document between two and seven body systems. The difference is that the EPF exam requires a “limited” exam of a …
Read MoreLearning to be Direct in Sales Negotiations
In 2008, we live in a vastly different world in which we feel information-saturated, overburdened, and pressed for time. It is a world in which long dialogue is generally a nuisance and short, to-the-point interchange is embraced. It is a world that values Headline News, USA Today, and Internet blogs more than traditional news shows or in-depth books. In short, we live in a world in which people want things short, simple, and digestible. That …
Read MoreWhat the Gray Haired Never Shared
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP For some reason, it is likely that no one with gray hair ever sat you down and shared with you some secrets to longevity, productivity, and career success in medicine. Why we in medicine tend to “eat our young” remains a mystery to me. If you have seen the movie 300 or read the book Gates of Fire, you understand that we tend to act very “Spartan-like.” I am …
Read MoreDeveloping Data: February, 2008
As an emerging distinct practice environment, urgent care is in the early stages of building a data set specific to its norms and practices. In Developing Data, JUCM will offer results not only from UCA’s annual benchmarking surveys, but also from research conducted elsewhere to present an expansive view of the healthcare marketplace in which urgent care seeks to strengthen its presence. In this issue: How did the corporate structure/organizational models among participants in UCA’s …
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