Practice Management
Case The patient is a 40-year-old woman who presents with cough and fever that has been getting worse “for a few days.” She is a former smoker, and has diabetes mellitus. View the images taken and consider what the diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page.
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Urgent message: Changes to insurance plan design are resulting in increased financial exposure for patients, with urgent care providers scrambling to adapt to the associated rise in patient consumerism. It therefore behooves the urgent care provider to evolve their financial systems and policies such that they align with emerging point-of-sale best practices in order to meet patient expectations, enhance the revenue cycle, and cultivate patient loyalty. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer …
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Case The patient is a 37-year-old man who presents to urgent care complaining of fever, nausea, and abdominal pain. He had attributed these symptoms to a recent trip to Japan, where he ate lots of new foods along with old favorites like sushi. However, he became concerned when a pruritic, serpiginous lesion appeared on his flank. View the photo taken, and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is …
Read MoreThis month’s Practice Management feature article, Perfecting the Consumer Financial Experience in Your Urgent Care Center, reveals that with increasing flexibility in accessing healthcare, patients also want more flexibility when it comes to paying their bill. Their insurance status comes into play, as do methods of payment. It’s been suggested that such details may even play a part in choosing where they go when they need to see a provider. As such, it could be …
Read MoreRethinking IV Antibiotics for Cellulitis Key point: Oral antibiotics are noninferior to parenteral antibiotics for uncomplicated cellulitis. Erythema of cellulitis commonly expands somewhat, even if treated with appropriate antibiotics, for the first 1-2 days after starting treatment. Citation: Aboltins CA, Hutchinson AF, Sinnappu RN, et al. Oral versus parenteral antimicrobials for the treatment of cellulitis: a randomized non-inferiority trial, J Antimicrob Chemother. 2015;70(2):581-586. Patients with cellulitis are often referred from urgent care to the emergency …
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“To everything there is a season,” according to Solomon. He may not have had allergic reactions to spring flora or acute exacerbations of asthma in mind, but he had a point that applies to urgent care centers—and one that will resonate with potential patients. Tower Health, which has urgent care locations throughout Pennsylvania and Delaware, recognized the value of that message and incorporated it into a seasonal online promotional campaign. In taking a patient-education approach …
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Cases of hepatitis A virus (HAV) in the United States have been creeping up slowly but steadily since 2016 for several years now—to the extent that there are now over then 15,000 active cases across the country. Over half of those (57%) have resulted in hospitalizations, and 140 people have died. In response, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just issued an advisory on its Health Alert Network for patients, public health departments, healthcare …
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Urgent care has made its mark on the U.S. healthcare system by offering high-quality care on a walk-in basis, with one of the guiding principles being that it’s an appropriate setting for any patient who is not experiencing life- or limb-threatening symptoms. That doesn’t mean patients with that level of complaint never walk through the door, however. Patients experiencing chest pain may be inclined to present to urgent care if it’s the closest healthcare facility, …
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Really knowing what patients thought of the care you provided can equate to a priceless opportunity to both see where your urgent care center can improve and understand how to tailor your marketing message. The problem, according to a new article published in BMJ Quality & Safety, is that too many patients are reluctant to give you an honest assessment. Out of 10,212 patient–participants, 47% admitted they experienced a problem during a recent hospital stay. …
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Warmer weather means a lot of things in the United States—putting away the heavy coats, longer daylight hours, more time outside—but not necessarily the end of flu season, especially this year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just issued a new warning that even though the H1N1 strain of influenza that has dominated the 2018–2019 season is on the wane, there’s been a recent uptick in cases of the stronger H3N2 strain. During the …
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