Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Improving Chart Closure Time in a Pediatric Urgent Care Setting

Urgent Message: Quality improvement projects can increase the percentage of charts closed within 1 hour of patient discharge at pediatric urgent and express care locations to ensure timely documentation. Key Words: Electronic Health Records, Documentation, Pediatrics, Ambulatory Care, Patient Safety, Quality Improvement Kileen Fernandez, MS, APRN-CPNP-PC; Lisa Ziemnik, MD, FAAP; Beth Williams, MBA, BSIE; Abiodun Omoloja, MD, MBA, CPE, FASN, FAMIA; Jennifer Morris, MS, APRN-CNP-PC, RNC-NIC; Maddie Mock, BSME; Thomas Geglein, BSN, RN, MBA; Kimberly …

Leveraging Physician-Patient Relationships to Increase Patient Portal Access During an Urgent Care Visit

Urgent Message: Urgent care physicians can leverage the physician-patient relationship established during a visit to improve patient portal enrollment and use in a healthcare system. Sandy Wang, MD, MPH; Carolyn Stern, MD; Kevin Fiscella, MD, MPH; Amaya Sanders, BS; Erik Herbert, BS; Rosie Booker, BS; Tyra Barton, LPN; Mechelle Sanders, PhD Key Words: Electronic Health Records, Patient Portals, Urgent Care, Quality Improvement Abstract Background: Patient portals for accessing electronic health records are useful for easy …

EHRs Haven’t Captured Prevalence of Long COVID

Long COVID is possibly more prevalent than what might be recorded in electronic health record (EHR) diagnostic or referral codes, according to a descriptive study in eClinicalMedicine. Researchers analyzed clinical data from more than 19 million adults in England from November 2020 to January 2023. A total of 55,465 patients were identified with long COVID, based on 20,025 diagnostic codes and 35,440 referral codes. Median follow-up was 2.2 years, and the rate of long COVID …

The More Cumbersome the EHR System, the Bigger the Drain on Revenue

The more time physicians spend dealing with electronic health record systems, the less money they make and the less time they have for providing care directly to patients, according to new data published in Health Affairs. The article says about half the time physicians spend working in EHR is during patient encounters. The other half of the time—when they’re not with patients, in other words—their time working within the EHR goes uncompensated, essentially. The authors …

Next Round of HIPAA Audits Aim to Prevent Data Breaches

Electronic health records have fostered easier access to vital information—clearly a benefit to providers and patients—but they’ve also been the font of data breaches involving the records of nearly 33 million individuals since 2009. Part of the problem lies with dishonest or inept contractors (or “business associates”) that may not have the expertise to construct proper security measures. Now those business associates are going to be targeted for HIPAA audits by the Department of Health …

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