Urgent care in a shifting healthcare delivery environment brings to mind Shel Silverstein’s children’s classic, The Missing Piece Meets the Big O. In that tale, the missing piece stands alone, waiting for someone to come along and take it somewhere. Various shapes come by, but none are quite right. Some could not roll. Some had too many missing pieces. Finally, a shape comes along that fits just right and they roll along until the missing …
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Texan Business Leaders Call for Fewer Restrictions on Telemedicine
The Texas Association of Business—the state’s chamber of commerce, essentially—is pushing lawmakers to come up with a bill that would allow more patients to use telemedicine. The TAB says the move is necessary after a decade of rising healthcare premiums and deductibles, which has increased the burden both on its members and their employees. Loosening restrictions on telemedicine has seen opposition from the physician-led Texas Medical Board, whose efforts have seen to it that the …
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Healthcare Helps Drive Thriving Real Estate Markets
The ongoing “consumerization” of healthcare—evidenced by the continuing growth of urgent care, telehealth and other patient-convenience trends—is one key factor in how medical facilities and related operations are fueling a boom in local real estate markets. As medical practice moves away from a hospital-centric model toward a culture more similar to a retail appearance, existing spaces need to be adapted to accommodate private exam and x-ray areas, offer comfortable waiting rooms, and assure adequate parking …
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Health System Takes Urgent Care/Occ Med on the Road
“Convenient location” is a relative term; an address that works for the greatest number of people can still leave many patients outside of your urgent care center’s reach. Oregon’s Samaritan Health Services is trying to bridge that gap by taking its act on the road—Route I-5, to be exact. Pull into the truck plaza just off exit 216 and you’ll see what looks like a semi with SamCare Mobile Medical emblazoned on the outside. Inside, …
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Meet the New Neighbors to Help Meet Your Bottom Line
The United States is a transient society, with approximately 12% of Americans changing residences each year. The rates are much higher for those living in apartments (24%) vs owner-occupied homes (5%) and for young people under age 34 (34%) than those more established in their homes, families, and careers. Data also indicate a continued out-migration from dense urban areas to the suburbs and exurbs and from the “rust belt” to the “sunbelt.” When a family …
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Healthcare is Outpacing Inflation—Make Your Case on Cost Savings
Healthcare costs are growing at a slower pace than in years past, but they’re still rising faster than the overall inflation rate, according to new data from the PwC Health Research Institute. That means the pressure is still on insurers and employers (not to mention everyday people who pay out of pocket) to make sure their own costs are kept in check. Urgent care has the chance to play the hero in this scenario by …
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Survey: ‘New Front Door to Healthcare’ is Opening Wider
Alternative sites of care—the proverbial “new front door to healthcare”—are being considered acceptable to a greater number and wider range of patients as time goes on, according to a new survey by Oliver Wyman’s Health & Life Science Practice. For purposes of the survey, those “alternative” sites include urgent care, retails clinics, and telehealth. While the benefits to the patient—greater access and power to make decisions—are self-evident, Oliver Wyman estimates at least $200 billion is …
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Urgent Care Buyers Club Vows to Stay the Course
Healthcare corporations continue to deepen their urgent care portfolios through acquisition—and they’re seeing dividends while also planning to continue buying up properties. HCA Holdings welcomed more than a million patients into its ever-expanding urgent care units within the last year—an increase of 500%, according to the company. Having made a number of acquisitions in the urgent care marketplace, as we’ve told you, HCA now has 66 centers in the U.S. The hospital giant has reported …
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Uncle Sam Picks Up Two-Thirds of the Healthcare Check
Even as private citizens continue to pay a greater percentage of their paychecks for healthcare, new data say that the government is picking up the biggest portion of healthcare spending overall—64.3% as of 2013. Of particular note, Medicare spending rose about 2.5% between 1999 and 2013. The data, which are published online in the American Journal of Public Health, reflect direct government payments for Medicare, Medicaid, and other public programs (eg, the Veterans Health Administration, …
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‘Step Therapy’ Usually Not What the Doctor Ordered
Proponents say “step therapy” will save the healthcare system big money while still allowing patients the medications they need. Opponents call it “fail first” and insist that the practice of having patients try cheaper versions of prescribed medications—with insurers paying for the more expensive variety only if the cheaper drug doesn’t do the job—is a bitter pill to swallow. Some clinicians claim the practice, which in effect has insurers overriding a prescriber’s choice of medications …
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