Practice Management
By the time August rolls around, parents may be running out of ideas on how to keep the kids occupied with healthy outdoor summer pursuits. That’s also around the time they have to start thinking about ensuring vaccinations are up to date, and sports physicals have cleared them to compete in the fall. Immediate Care Medical Walk-In of New Jersey hit on a way to reach out to families with those concerns while also giving …
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The ongoing surge in cases of measles illustrates the limits of herd immunity—even when we’re talking about a disease that was declared “eliminated” in the United States in 2000. Some “anti-vaxxers” mistakenly rationalize that they and their children don’t need immunizations against measles and other diseases if the majority of people around them have been vaccinated. The scientifically supported fact is that exposure to vaccine-preventable disease can lead to serious illness (or even death), and …
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The need to be “everywhere all the time” has become something of a mantra in healthcare, according to the latest Overview of the Salaries, Bonuses, and Other Incentives Customarily Used to Recruit Physicians, Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners, compiled and presented by Merritt Hawkins. The report spotlights the growth of urgent care, specifically, along with other walk-in settings as a key influencer in changing patient expectations when they choose a healthcare provider. Secondary to that, …
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Much of the country has been suffering through a brutal heatwave this week. As temperatures and oppressive humidity rise, unfortunately, air quality goes down, leaving even healthy patients more susceptible to respiratory problems. Those with already-compromised breathing, such as from asthma, COPD, and other conditions, are in really dangerous territory. Add to that the fact that many people travel the country at this time of year (and, hence, don’t have access to their usual providers) …
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It’s the peak of summer vacation season. But for every blissful day out on the lake, sleeping under the stars, or trail biking through the woods there are countless moments of worry over ticks and the diseases they carry. The aptly named Mercy Urgent Care is doing its part to help tourists and residents in western North Carolina feel safe and remain free of tick-borne illnesses by handing out free tick removal kits (while supplies …
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Publications as diverse as Black Enterprise magazine and The Birmingham Times in Alabama have picked up on a real urgent care success story—one that should resonate with the entire healthcare industry and the country as a whole. In the seat of some of the civil rights movements’ most contentious (and violent) moments, a young, female, African-American urgent care professional has co-founded a pediatric urgent care center. Tiffany Alexander, 27, also serves as the operations manager …
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Urgent message: The family demographic is a dream for urgent care businesses, with social association and physical activity leading to frequent illness and injury, and employer-provided insurance to pay the bills. Key to reaching this demographic is establishing credible word-of-mouth with the female healthcare decision-maker in the home, which can be accelerated by “mommy blogging.” Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is Practice Management Editor of The …
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We’re fairly sure you recommend that sick patients stay home until they’re feeling better and, just as important, they’re no longer at risk of making their coworkers sick. This has never been more essential than during the recent severe flu seasons in the U.S. Fortunately, according to data just released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more sick providers stayed home until they’d recovered than in recent years. In fact, health-related workplace absenteeism …
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just reported that deaths attributed to opioid overdose declined by 5% between 2017 and 2018—the first time they’ve fallen from one year to the next since 1990. This is no time for urgent care providers to rest on their laurels, however; the CDC says more than 68,000 people died from fatal drug overdoses in the United States last year. That’s still higher than the peak annual deaths from …
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Patients complaining of abdominal pain in the urgent care center may be as common as they are concerning. Most of the time the cause will be relatively benign—but those that aren’t can go very badly very quickly. Consequently, the Urgent Care Association asked Michael Nelson, PA-C to host a webinar featuring the best, newest available literature on the subject. Evidence-Based Approach to Abdominal Pain in Urgent Care is scheduled for Thursday, August 1st at 1 …
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