bnapolitano, Author at Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Beware the Effects of Sleep Aids on Your Clinicians

The deleterious effects of sleep deprivation have been demonstrated in innumerable clinical studies. As such, its effects on clinicians charged with treating patients is beyond question. What is in question, however, is whether the effects of inadequate rest are matched (or even surpassed) by the effects of sleep aids on healthcare providers—including urgent care physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. Research published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine suggests it’s a question that needs answering—and …

Texas AARP Raises the Alarm on Freestanding ER Costs vs Urgent Care Centers

Frequent reports from members who get stuck with surprise bills after visiting a freestanding emergency room have moved the Texas AARP to issue a warning to its members: Make sure you understand the type of facility you’re visiting, and verify what the cost of your care is likely to be, before you receive care. The problem, the organization says, is that many people walk into a freestanding ED thinking it’s actually an urgent care center—with …

WSJ: Keeping Patients In-House is Solid Rationale for Hospitals to Own Urgent Care Centers

Regular readers of JUCM News know that hospitals have been buying or starting their own urgent care centers in greater numbers in recent years. It’s self-evident that they see it as a good business to enter, but a new article in the Wall Street Journal confirms the economic advantages of keeping patients in-house, instead of referring them out to urgent care centers or specialty practices outside of the hospital’s organization—as in, millions of dollars in …

Improving Patient–Provider Communication Can Also Improve Antibiotic Stewardship

It’s a nearly constant battle: Patients insist on a prescription for an antibiotic even though it’s not indicated, putting prescribers in the unenviable position of either complying with an unreasonable and possibly dangerous demand or doing the right thing and incurring the unsatisfied patient’s wrath (possibly including poor ratings and complaints online). A new post on PatientEngagementHIT suggests that focusing on better communication between provider and patient could go a long way toward resolving such …

‘Ghosting’ Can Have Dramatic Implications in the Urgent Care Center

CNBC, The Washington Post, and LinkedIn have all reported on the growing phenomenon of workers who “ghost” their employers—essentially, leaving their job without providing notice and cutting off all contact with the company without explanation. While the poor ethics and etiquette of that practice are beyond question, there could be serious legal consequences if it happens in the urgent care setting. And it does happen—even among physicians and other clinical staff; some leave at the …

Hospitals Slam North Carolina Proposal, but Could it Benefit Urgent Care?

North Carolina’s state treasurer would like to see his state become the second in the country to align healthcare reimbursements with Medicare rates. The proposal is already being slammed by hospital systems and the North Carolina Healthcare Association on the grounds that any savings realized by the health plan and its members will come at the expense of overall quality of care across the state. However, Dale Folwell claims the plan he’d like to implement …

Unexpected Viral Illness in an Urgent Care Setting: The Re-Emergence of Mumps, Measles, and Varicella

Urgent message: Urgent care providers often see acute public health emergencies due to easy patient accessibility. It is important to identify communicable disease rapidly to control any risk of a community outbreak. This article will focus on mumps, measles and varicella (chickenpox). Carmen N. Burrell, DO, Melinda J. Sharon, MPH, and Megan Kessell, BA In recent years, outbreaks of uncommon infectious diseases have occurred in schools and communities, due to increasing travel exposures, decreasing vaccination …

An 11-Year-Old Boy with Forearm and Wrist Pain After a Fall

The patient is an 11-year-old boy who presents complaining of pain in his left and right forearm and wrist after falling from a height of approximately 5 feet. His parents report that he was attempting to hang upside down by his knees from a chin-up bar in his school’s gymnasium when he slipped. View the images taken and consider what the diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolutions of the case is described on the …

Advanced Practitioners Help Advance the Urgent Care Cause

By the year 2030, the expected shortfall of primary care physicians ranges between 14,800 and 49,300.¹ Under the influence of a growing and aging population, the next decade promises to put extraordinary pressure on the physician workforce. To make matters worse, physician reimbursement remains stagnant or in decline. While there remains modest growth in the total number of physicians in the U.S., demand is outpacing supply, and the gap between primary care and specialty care …

Education is Key to Avoiding Increasingly Sophisticated Cyber Crime

Urgent message: As digital communication becomes more integral to our daily lives and job functions, cybercriminals are increasingly employing nefarious social engineering tactics like “phishing” to steal our valuable personal, professional, and financial information. Urgent care employees at every level should be trained to recognize phishing scams, and how to effectively safeguard themselves and their organizations from attack. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is Practice Management …