Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Access to Care in New Jersey Shrinks As Specialists Scale Back

Optum—the large subsidiary of UnitedHealthcare that delivers clinical care and employs physicians and other providers—is scaling back some of its specialty services and locations in New Jersey, according to local outlet NJ.com. Letters notified patients that about 90 locations in the state would shutter in December, reducing its offerings in several areas, such as behavioral health, dermatology, and orthopedics. However, a spokesperson told Patch providers would continue to offer pediatric, primary care, cardiology, rheumatology, and …

New Jersey Moves to Make Out-of-Network Charges More Transparent

Legislators in New Jersey have passed legislation aimed at increasing the transparency of health care prices, especially fees for services rendered by out-of-network providers. When it takes effect less than 90 days from now, healthcare facilities and providers will be required to give patients information on network status prior to delivering nonemergent or nonurgent care. That last stipulation is what should be of interest to urgent care operators: The law says care provided on an …

Urgent Care Data Would Feed NJ ‘Master Person Index’ to Help Prevent Mistaken Identity

Lax record keeping, the transient nature of online identities, and continually changing mobile phone numbers make it hard enough to keep tab on “who’s who” in your patient records. Add common names to the mix and it’s easy to see how patient identity could be hard to keep straight—the consequences of which could be severe in terms of patient safety and your adherence to confidentiality laws. New Jersey thinks one solution would be Master Person …

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