Practice Management
The ink is barely dry on the arrest warrant for a Florida man accused of practicing medicine without a license, but now another similar story has popped up in New Jersey. Unlike the Florida case, the accused was not the proprietor of the urgent care center where he worked but an employee. Law enforcement officials say he’s actually a former physician whose medical license was suspended in 2003 for aggravated drug possession. Authorities are confident …
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It’s common for patients complaining of fatigue, fever, stiff joints, and overall body aches and malaise to seek treatment in an urgent care center. Depending on the season and what examination reveals—a telltale bullseye rash, for example—the clinician might suspect Lyme disease and be inclined to suggest the patient see another provider for testing and treatment. Even if they’re able to test on site, the patient would have to wait several days for the results …
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If you read this newsletter and JUCM, you know the Merit-based Incentive Payment Systems (MIPS) offers a few options in an attempt to encourage participation and allow providers, essentially, to customize their participation to suit their practice. That includes when they start participating, within some limits. And if you read any news sources at all, you know there are more than a few wrinkles in the rollout. With that in mind, here are a few …
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Despite efforts to teach patients when they really need to go to the emergency room vs the urgent care center or other settings, TennCare reports that its members have continued to head straight to the ED for relatively minor complaints—to the tune of $87.9 million in fiscal year 2017. That’s an increase of $3 million over the previous year. Claims data released by the state show too many use the less convenient, costlier ED for …
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Urgent Message: As some municipalities have considered placing—or have already placed—restrictions on the opening of new urgent care centers in their communities, urgent care developers should understand the legality and business impact of such local moratoria. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Vice President of Strategic Initiatives for Practice Velocity, LLC and is Practice Management Editor for The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. Recently, after much consideration, the Manhattan Beach (CA) City Council rejected a …
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The Urgent Care Association has launched a public-facing campaign to get consumers to head to their local urgent care center to ward off influenza, now that the season has officially begun. In addition to stressing that the urgent care center is “the best place to receive flu vaccinations and other key winter healthcare services,” UCA’s message also focuses on herd immunity—the notion that higher immunization rates will result in lower incidence of illness across the …
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As we’ve reported here, the evolving habits of patients who seek immediate, cost-efficient, quality care is forcing hospitals and health systems to reconsider their own approaches to patient engagement. Such is reconfirmed in a Wall Street Journal article that observes “as patients increasingly seek cheaper and more convenient care, some of the largest U.S. hospital operators are investing in surgery centers, emergency rooms, and urgent care clinics.” The article cites Tenet Healthcare Corp., Dignity Health, …
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A physician assistant’s suspicions and subsequent law enforcement investigations have led to the president of an urgent care center in south Florida being formally charged with posing as a physician and possession of a blank prescription form. In fact, the Med-Clinic in Doral, FL was not licensed by the state to serve as any kind of medical facility. Regardless, it employed “real” clinicians and promoted its capabilities to treat broken bones and infections…all the services …
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A brouhaha in the St. Louis area should serve as a reminder (to operators, clinicians, and staff) that posts to social media platforms are subject to the same standards of fair comment as statements made in the media or anywhere in public. Saying something perceived as inflammatory or wrongfully derogatory about a local urgent care operator on Facebook, in this case, landed the chair of a local emergency department in court. The issue arose when …
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Five Star Urgent Care, which currently operates 17 urgent care locations, is opening 18 more in New York and Ohio after already converting an existing primary practice to an urgent care center. The company is ironing out leases for the rest, and expects to complete the growth spurt by late 2018. The company has found the areas in which the new centers will be located to be underserved by healthcare providers in general. The move …
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