Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Urgent Care Solutions for Health Systems to Improve Access

Urgent message: Although the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act expands health insurance coverage to millions of previously uninsured, many of the newly insured grapple with lack of access to quality, on-demand care, which leads to increased emergency department use. Urgent care provides a solution for health systems to expand access, reduce the number of unnecessary emergency department visits, and realize the goal of integrated population health management. MICHAEL F. BOYLE, MD, MBA, FACEP Introduction …

Improving the Patient Experience by Thinking Differently About Waiting

Urgent message: Attracting and retaining urgent care patients entails more than reducing the total duration of patient waits. It also requires understanding and managing patient expectations and perceptions of waiting. MICHAEL BURKE, MBA, and GARRETT BOMBA, MD People often respond irrationally in waiting situations. How else can we explain the fact that people are routinely more satisfied with a clearly explained 30-minute wait than with an uncertain 20-minute wait? It is not rational, but it …

October 2015

September 2015

Investment Trends in Urgent Care: A Mergers and Acquisitions Roundtable

Urgent message: Urgent care is a highly fragmented industry considered ripe for consolidation. A handful of high-profile deals have made 2015 the biggest year for mergers and acquisitions yet, but high valuations, oversaturated markets, changing buyer and seller expectations, and structural changes attributable to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will influence urgent care deal-making in coming years. ALEXANDER NATHANSON, MD Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the U.S. urgent care industry have historically consisted …

Implications of Patients Recording Urgent Care Provider Encounters

Urgent message: The ubiquity of smartphones increases the risk that patients will openly or covertly record interactions with their physicians. Urgent care operators should understand the legal and privacy implications and protect themselves with appropriate policies and training. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc Practice Velocity Smartphones with cameras and audio and video recorders that can be easily concealed in a pocket, purse, or backpack are now used by roughly 71% of Americans, including 86% of …

July/August 2015

June 2015

The Role of Urgent Care in an Integrated Care System: Insights from Intermountain Healthcare

Urgent message: This exclusive interview with Intermountain Medical Group Chief Executive Officer Linda Leckman, MD, illustrates how urgent care can improve access and clinical outcomes while reducing costs for patients in a system that integrates providers, hospitals, and health insurance using a shared electronic medical record and capitated payment. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc, Experity Introduction In the evolving U.S. health-care system, individual providers, ancillary facilities, hospitals, and payors are joining together in connected systems …

Practice Management