Practice Management
Urgent message: A new report from the California Health Care Foundation, excerpted here, examines how the growth of urgent care is influencing delivery of healthcare—and what the prospects for the future of the industry might be. Prepared for the California HealthCare Foundation by Robin M. Weinick, PhD and RenĂ©e M. Betancourt, BA The days of having a family doctor in town who cared for all of a patient’s health needs are long gone. In their …
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Urgent message: Distal radial fractures in children can often be treated by non-orthopedists without the need for full casting in an urgent care center that can perform simple splinting, thus sparing hospital referral. Deena R. Zimmerman, MD, MPH, IBCLC, Scott Fields, MD, and Nahum Kovalski, BSc, MDCM Introduction Wrist fracture is a com-mon injury in children. Many of these fractures are buckle or torus fractures. Traditionally, treatment for buckle fractures has been short-arm casting for …
Read MoreWrist fracture is a common injury in children. 1 Many of these fractures are buckle or torus fractures. Traditionally, treatment for buckle fractures has been short-arm casting for two to four weeks.2 However, questions have been raised as to the need for such treatment. A num- ber of recent studies have indicated that many such fractures may be managed without casting by the use of either elastic bandaging alone3 or splints.4-6 Plaster splints can easily …
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Urgent message: The last 10 years have seen a dramatic increase in DNA parentage testing. Yet, the DNA testing industry remains, in essence, unregulated. Can urgent care providers fulfill a need for ethical and clinically reliable access, while receiving direct and immediate payment for your services? Elizabeth Panke, MD, PhD For many generations, defining the parent-child relationship was easy. The woman who gave birth to the child was the child’s legal mother; to a large …
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Urgent message: Liability insurance premiums continue to rise across the spectrum of medical practice environments. Urgent care practitioners can maximize the value of every premium dollar spent by understanding whom and what the policy actually covers. Terrence P. Coughlin, CPCU, ARM, AIC One of the more important andcostly aspects of running an urgent care center is the insurance coverage needed to protect the center and the medical staff working there. In recent years, all medical …
Read MoreUrgent message: New data indicate that calls to 911 from family medicine and urgent care offices and subsequent transport to ED occur for a wide range of reasons, with the distribution varying to a large degree based on the age of the patient and the practice setting. Introduction Life-threatening emergencies have been reported to occur in primary care medical offices.1,2 However, the type of medical emergencies that occur remains unclear. Previous studies that have attempted …
Read MoreUrgent message: The challenge of running a successful business can be daunting for any entrepreneur. It’s especially tough when your first priority is maintaining excellence as a clinician. The right approach to financial issues can help your business run smoothly—and profitably—while allowing you to focus on caring for patients. Ask an urgent care physician-owner what the biggest financial obstacle he or she faces is and the answer is likely to be “declining reimbursements.” But what …
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Urgent message: The challenge of running a successful business can be daunting for any entrepreneur. It’s especially tough when your first priority is maintaining excellence as a clinician. The right approach to financial issues can help your business run smoothly—and profitably—while allowing you to focus on caring for patients. Kevin J. Ralofsky, MBA, Founder of MedCapital and Treasurer of the Urgent Care Association of America Ask an urgent care physician-owner what the biggest financial obstacle …
Read MoreUrgent message: Retail-based healthcare clinics are a growing phenomenon. A report from the California HealthCare Foundation, excerpted here, says public perception is split, and their economic viability remains to be seen. How do their services stack up against those offered by urgent care? The first in-store clinics appeared in 2000 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul (MN) metropolitan area and were operated by QuickMedx, which later became Minute- Clinic. The company’s founder, Rick Krieger, says the business …
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Urgent message: Retail-based healthcare clinics are a growing phenomenon. A report from the California HealthCare Foundation, excerpted here, says public perception is split, and their economic viability remains to be seen. How do their services stack up against those offered by urgent care? The first in-store clinics appeared in 2000 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul (MN) metropolitan area and were operated by QuickMedx, which later became Minute-Clinic. The company’s founder, Rick Krieger, says the business idea …
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