Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Practice Management

ACP

ACP: Deductibles May Be Discouraging Patients from Getting Care

ACP: Deductibles May Be Discouraging Patients from Getting Care

The American College of Physicians (ACP) says cost sharing—deductibles, in particular—may be leading patients to delay even medically necessary services, leaving the door open for urgent care to make its case to cash-paying customers seeking a middle ground. In “Addressing the Increasing Burden of Health Insurance Cost Sharing,” ACP makes five recommendations for making cost sharing more “equitable” in the private market, mainly by reducing overall health care spending, designing insurance plans that allow access …

Read More
CDC, ACP Warn Against Wayward Antibiotic Prescribing

CDC, ACP Warn Against Wayward Antibiotic Prescribing

Old habits and the pleadings of sick patients continue to move physicians to prescribe antibiotics for patients who don’t actually need them, according to a new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Physicians. Both are urging physicians to employ antibiotics sparingly during cold and flu season. Antibiotics are prescribed at more than 100 million adult ambulatory care visits every year—including visits to urgent care—but only about half …

Read More
ACP’s take on concierge medicine

ACP’s take on concierge medicine

Urgent care operators considering adding a concierge medicine component to their business may find rationale to do so—or not to do so—in a new position paper published in the November 10 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The paper declines to give either a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down to direct patient contracting practices (DPCPs)—aka “concierge medicine”—but does offer perspective on the pros and cons relative to medical quality, cost, access, and other factors. On the …

Read More
ACP Calls for Scope of Practice Limits on Retail Clinics

ACP Calls for Scope of Practice Limits on Retail Clinics

The American College of Physicians has called for scope of practice limits on retail health clinics such as those built into chain drugstores. In the executive summary of a policy position paper by Hilary Daniel and Shari Erikson and published on the website of the Annals of Internal Medicine, ACP expressed concern over recent efforts to manage chronic conditions in the retail setting, suggesting that research into potential negative outcomes may be desirable. It acknowledged …

Read More