Practice Management
Urgent message: Falls in the elderly may be mechanical or due to an underlying etiology, making the urgent care evaluation tricky. The provider will need to evaluate the sequelae of the fall as well as searching for the hidden cause. Introduction Medical complaints from the elderly population will pose more of a challenge when the chief complaint is fall. The source can range from a neurologic etiology, a cardiac abnormality, or a metabolic or …
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Case A 55-year-old male presented to urgent care with a chief complaint of coughing, shortness of breath, wheezing, chest palpitations, and dizziness for the past 2 days. The patient denied chest pain. He has a significant past medical history of diabetes mellitus II and takes metformin 500 mg once a day. The patient’s blood pressure is 88/60 mmHg, heart rate is 115, O2 sat 98%, weight 275 pounds, BMI 50.3. In addition: General: alert and …
Read MoreBeginning April 1, 2019 UnitedHealthcare will revise their policies to discontinue reimbursement for HCPCS code S9083, “Global fee urgent care centers” in some states (see Table 1). The change affects UnitedHealthcare commercial plans, United Healthcare Oxford, and UnitedHealthcare Community Plan policies. Additionally, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan will no longer reimburse HCPCS code S9088, “Services provided in an urgent care center.” Providers should report the Evaluation and Management (E/M), and/or procedure code(s) that specifically describes the services …
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Case The patient is a 47-year-old woman who presents with left hip pain that worsens when she is working out on her elliptical machine, and improves with rest. View the x-ray taken and consider what the diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page.
Read MoreLike many of you, the fear of a medical malpractice claim casts a wide shadow over everything I do. Like most of you, my intent is always to do no harm and provide the best care possible for every patient despite significant challenges. And like all of you, I wonder how we got to a place where any level of inaccuracy or misjudgment became a breach of the standard of care. While some reforms have …
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Urgent message: Urgent care centers may offer opportunities to provide preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) services for HIV due to large numbers of patients seeking testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infection. In the same sense, the urgent care center may also serve as an important ally in providing referrals for patients not currently linked to primary care services. Yeow Chye Ng, PhD, FNP-BC, NP-C, CPC, AAHIVE, Jack J. Mayeux, MSN, APRN, NP-C, and Thuy Lynch, PhD, …
Read MoreIt has always seemed self-evident that urgent care centers, offering a lower-cost and usually faster experience that is also on par clinically for nonemergent complaints, should help draw patients away from overcrowded emergency rooms. Just as obviously, that would mean more efficient use of the ED for patients who truly need to be there, and less of a financial burden on the healthcare system. One problem has been a lack of conclusive data to back …
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Vermont Urgent Care has made testing for and treating sexually transmitted diseases a clinical priority in its Los Angeles neighborhood—even offering to test qualified patients at no cost. That decision is paying off with acclaim in being called out as one of the top providers of herpes testing services in the LA metro area. It started as part of a concentrated effort to expand the operation’s sexual health services. That allowed its providers to both …
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The Urgent Care Association will launch its 2019 Accreditation & Best Practices Webinar Series with a look at best practices for lab protocols and radiology next Thursday, March 7, 1 to 2 pm (Central). Some webinars in the series will qualify for Certified Urgent Care Management Professional (CUCMP) credit. To date, UCA has the following webinars planned: March 7, 2019: Ancillary Compliance ─ Lab Protocols and Radiology Best Practices (1 credit toward CUCMP designation) April …
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Americans spend more time traveling to and waiting to be seen by a healthcare provider than any other single pursuit, including in the infamously inefficient motor vehicle department, according to a study just released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In fact, that time amounts to an economic cost of roughly $89 billion dollars annually—and that’s not counting the time they spend in the exam room. Over the entire survey period (2006–2017), the sum approaches …
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