Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

That’s Not What Happened! How to Deal with Gaslighting in the Workplace

Urgent message: Similar to workplace bullying, sexual harassment, and toxic gossip, gaslighting behaviors result in demoralized workplace cultures, lost business opportunities, and legal liability for urgent care leaders and organizations. Past issues of JUCM have covered the various “axes of workplace evils” including workplace bullying,1 sexual harassment,2 and toxic gossip.3 Not to be mistaken for crude schoolyard behavior, at the heart of these very serious workplace dysfunctions is one person trying to gain an advantage …

Is Four Times a Charm for Walmart (or, Could Walmart Be a Threat to Urgent Care)?

Urgent message: It’s important for urgent care to watch and learn from Walmart, which has engaged leading retail and strategic consultants to develop “Walmart Health.” However, based on Walmart’s three previous failures to penetrate any significant share of even its own stores with a retail clinic model, skepticism over Walmart’s ability to execute as a healthcare provider is warranted. If Walmart has its way, America’s burgeoning healthcare marketplace is about to get a lot more …

To Appeal to Millennials, You Need a Purpose

Urgent message: A sense of “purpose” is the primary motivator for many employees—even beyond compensation and benefits. That’s why successful companies leverage powerful purpose statements towards clearly articulating their mission and values, and cultivating an engaged and inspired workforce. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc Whether part of a larger cultural and societal shift, or due to the influence of a Millennial-dominated workforce, the importance of “purpose” at work has taken on a heightened significance in …

Pros and Cons of Urgent Care vs Primary Care Billing for Urgent Care Services

Urgent message: While it makes business sense for the minority of urgent care facilities that do contract with and bill insurance as a primary care practice, the majority contract and bill as urgent care, given higher reimbursement and the numerous other benefits this provides an urgent care operation. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care, LLC and is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. In …

Smoothing Ebb-and-Flow for Greater Staff Efficiency and Shorter Wait Times in Urgent Care

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. Urgent message: Integration of healthcare delivery with mobile technology is leading more urgent care operators to embrace digital queuing systems that, given their ability to positively impact patient wait times, offer the promise of elevating the patient experience—and a distinct competitive advantage. In a perfect world, every patient who showed …

What to Do If A Competing Urgent Care Opens in Your Community

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. Urgent message: As the country’s urgent care markets become increasingly saturated, the forward-thinking operator will have a strategic patient-retention strategy ready when a competitor inevitably opens up shop in their community. As the urgent care market continues its yearly growth of around 8%, per the Urgent Care Association’s 2018 Benchmarking …

Rural and Tertiary Markets: The Next Urgent Care Frontier

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. Urgent message: Given the oversaturation and resulting fierce competition among urgent care chains in the affluent suburbs of major cities, the underserved rural healthcare market offers tremendous growth opportunity for the forward-thinking urgent care operator. Urgent care began as a suburban phenomenon—and continues to be, as evidenced by the Urgent …

Urgent Care Looks to Find its Identity through Gen Z and Millennials

Urgent message: Younger consumers’ healthcare preferences are significantly different than that of older consumers. Urgent care providers have a prime opportunity to meet the needs of Gen Z and Millennials by creating a new healthcare experience. Dan Stanek Introduction As everyday healthcare begins to deviate from the classic primary care model, the competition is just beginning in regard to which alternative provider will best suit consumers’ needs. Urgent care may be the current provider type …

Competing for Patients in a Digitally Connected World

Urgent message: In today’s tech-driven, digital-everything society, industry-leading consumer companies all leverage technology to reducing friction—ie, steps, obstacles, and unnecessary effort—in making their products and services fast, convenient, and accessible. The urgent care operation that can align with this growing trend and leverage technology to root out friction will win loyalty and patronage from today’s digitally native healthcare consumer. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is Practice …

The Millennial Conundrum: Fostering an Engaged Multigenerational Urgent Care Workforce

Urgent message: Are Millennial employees breathing fresh energy into the urgent care workplace or are they a new breed of workers who don’t go along with established workplace norms? Your perspective may influence how you fair in their ascendance. Rachel Sossoman, MSHR, SPHR, SHRM-SCP Introduction Millennials—Americans born between 1981 and 1996—became the largest demographic group in the U.S. workforce at 56 million strong in 2017; this year, they will overtake Baby Boomers as the largest …

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