Practice Management
A study of 1,061 hospitals recently published in JAMA Network Open offers a classification of 4 levels of pediatric clinical capability, based on the parameters of the services provided by the hospitals. The hope is that outcomes and care delivery can be compared in a way that is more of an “apples-to-apples” approach using the 4 pediatric hospital capability levels developed by the authors. For urgent care centers, such classifications could be handy for triaging …
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Urgent Care for Kids in Houston, Texas, this week announced the acquisition of 11 Pediatrix Medical Group Primary + Urgent Care clinics, formerly operating under the NightLight Pediatrics Urgent Care brand. Since its establishment in 2011, Urgent Care for Kids has offered traditional urgent care as well as telehealth services, and with the acquisition, brings its total number of clinic locations to 23. Portfolio peek: Urgent Care for Kids is a subsidiary of Goodside Health, …
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A newly minted law in Maryland requires hospitals and urgent care centers to develop evidence-based protocols and education for the early recognition and treatment of sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock. And there’s a sense of urgency to develop new programs quickly because the clinical enhancements must be implemented on or before January 1, 2025. The policy is also known as “Lochlin’s Law,” named after a child who died of sepsis after a case of …
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In Texas, nurse practitioners (NPs) are advocating for legislation that would allow them to practice independently without physician oversight. Texas is 1 of just 11 states that require such supervision. Although the policy proposal still has a long way to go, medical professionals are using the interim to chime in on the pros and cons—including the enhanced capabilities with physician-led care as well as the costs of physician engagement, which could start at $50,000 a …
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Cases of COVID-19 have surged in emergency departments (EDs) over recent weeks, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and surges are now demonstrating upward slopes that could lead to peaks similar to what communities might expect in the cooler months of fall. The weekly average of ED patients with COVID-19 has reached 1.18% in the United States overall but 2.9% in Florida, making the “sunshine state” a leader …
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A new study in Emerging Infections Diseases describes 5 children who had Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) and manifested clinical symptoms similar to multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) in Mexico. Although the number of cases was small, it may be an important differential because Rocky Mountain spotted fever can progress rapidly to death or severe illness if appropriate antimicrobial drug therapy is not delivered within the first 5 days after illness onset. Among the 5 cases, …
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Healthcare leaders in eastern Massachusetts have agreed to a 90-day collaborative initiative to address the expected surge in local emergency department visits this summer, according to NBC Boston. Plans call for directing more patients to urgent care facilities when appropriate. Last week, the state department of insurance issued a memo detailing plans for insurers and urgent care providers aimed at managing the “typically high” volume of emergency room visits from July 3 to October 1. …
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In a new brief, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that everyone ages 6 months and older receive an updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine and flu vaccine once the updated formulations become available this fall—ideally aiming for vaccination in September or October. A few distinct situations have varying dosing schedules for flu vaccines. Just as one example, CDC said adults (especially those 65 years old and older) and pregnant moms in the first …
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How free-standing emergency departments (EDs) present themselves to the community continues to cause confusion for patients, ultimately leading to unexpectedly higher medical bills and negative overall experiences. Some free-standing EDs have the term “urgent care” in their name, which many believe is misleading. And now there is at least one effort to investigate a class action lawsuit for patients who accessed what they believed was urgent care—based on the facility’s sign out front—only to find …
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The table above shows the percentage of patients within an average day who arrived during each hour of operations, based on more than 13,000,000 patient encounters from January 1 to March 31, 2024, recorded in the Experity EMR. A patient arriving anywhere between 7:00AM and 7:59AM, for example, is categorized as arriving during the 7:00AM hour. This data is useful in determining staffing levels and opening hours. If the number of patient arrivals per hour …
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