bnapolitano, Author at Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Another Disease Outbreak Strikes in an Antivaccination ‘Hotspot’

We’ve told you recently about outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease in communities that are loath to line up for immunizations. Unfortunately, that trend is continuing as a rapidly expanding rash of measles cases has moved health officials in Clark County, WA to declare a public health emergency. The first reported case was tracked back to a single person at nearby Portland (OR) International Airport on January 7. Four days later, a second infected person attended a …

Making ‘Nice’ Can Make a Difference in Patient Outcomes

In the information age, images of the kindly, benevolent physician may conjure up quaint memories of Marcus Welby, but an article just published in The New York Times suggests that the simple act of being nice to patients can improve the prospects for positive outcomes. Authored by a pair of social psychologists from Stanford University, the piece maintains that a warm, reassuring approach to patient interactions, especially when discussing their health, can actually help symptoms …

Patients Consider Convenience Before Quality; It’s a Good Thing Urgent Care Offers Both

By now we’ve all gotten the point that patients want excellent care when they need it, which may not be when their primary care provider or a specialist they’d like to see is available. A new study from NRC Health reveals that the convenience factor is actually a higher priority than quality of care when those patients are deciding where to go. The survey included 223,000 healthcare consumers, 51% of whom said convenience and access …

If It Touches Your Patients, Make Sure It’s Clean

When we consider ways in which disease is passed from one person to another, we probably think first about the home, classrooms, offices, or modes of transportation. However, your workplace—the urgent care center—may also be the source sometimes. And the danger isn’t limited to the waiting room. A new study published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology notes that stethoscopes can transfer germs from one patient to the next, and suggests that a standardized approach …

Urgent Care Reaches Out to Furloughed Federal Employees

The federal government shutdown is having a very real effect on access to healthcare for many Americans. We told you recently that clinics funded by the Indian Health Service are going without funding, leaving some patients who get their primary care at those facilities out in the cold. On the other side of the coin you’ll see federal workers who aren’t getting paid and may have some tough decisions to make about where their dwindling …

Don’t Let Envy Destroy Your Urgent Care Team

Urgent message: In a world that is ultra-competitive, there is no way to avoid envy in the workplace—even a workplace that exists to help others, like an urgent care center. Whether due to promotions, unequal compliments from a boss, or who gets the new office chair, employees are often envious of their coworkers. From executives to interns, or physicians to medical assistants, envy is a trap we must learn to avoid. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, …

The Data Are in: ED Visits Go Up When Urgent Care Centers Are Closed

Urgent care insiders and advocates have known it intuitively for a long time, but now data are bearing out the fact that urgent care centers really do help thin out the congestion (and associated cost) in emergency rooms—especially in areas where there are multiple locations to choose from. A multistate study by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows there’s a 1.4% increase in ED visits by privately insured patients when urgent care centers are …

New York May Call on Telemedicine to Improve Access Under Workers’ Comp

Urgent care operators that offer occupational medicine in New York may want to consider what it would take to start offering telemedicine services if they’re not doing so already. The Empire State is taking a harder look at whether telemedicine could be a viable option to broaden access to clinicians for injured workers who otherwise might not get the care they need. One possible motive for the newfound interest: Industry observers have noted that New …

Update: CMS Wraps Up New Medicare Card Program Ahead of Schedule

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has completed mailing new cards to the 61 million people covered by Medicare in the U.S., each with their own unique, randomly assigned Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI). The old cards were based on each person’s Social Security number, the widespread access to which left individuals open to identity theft. When the plan was rolled out to the public last April, CMS said it would take a year for …

Update: Multiple States Report High Flu Activity as Season Hits Peak Months

Public health officials in numerous states, most notably California, Massachusetts, and New Jersey are reporting significant flu activity—some exceeding even last year’s severe flu season. California has seen a relatively high number of deaths (42) for this point in the season. Roughly half of those have Top of Formoccurred in the elderly. Flu has been called “widespread” in New Jersey, to the extent that some hospitals there are imposing restrictions on people visiting hospitals. AtlantiCare …