Practice Management
CVS Health and Aetna received approval to merge from the Department of Justice this week—provided that Aetna follows through on plans to sell its Medicare Part D business to a subsidiary of WellCare Health Plans in order to preserve competition in that market. CVS is already the leader in the Medicare Part D market, with Aetna fifth. The $69 billion deal will blend Aetna’s rich beneficiary data with CVS’s capability to provide point-of-service care, a …
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The U.S. Department of Transportation added four semisynthetic opioids to its drug testing panel on the first of this year. Now, just over 10 months later, those four—hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxycodone, and oxymorphone—are turning up more often than their older counterparts when transportation professionals fail a drug test. New data from the Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index show that the positivity rate for them is “notably higher” than the positive rate seen for more traditional opiates. Prior to …
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Sexual harassment is a “chronic debilitating disease” in healthcare settings—and it needs to be treated as such, according to a pair of Perspective articles in the New England Journal of Medicine. As one of them points out, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine issued a report stating that up to 50% of female medical students will experience some form of sexual harassment before they even get out of med school. The morality (or …
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Los Angeles County in California is beset by a major outbreak of typhus—so much so that area health officials have called it an epidemic, with no signs that it’s going to abate any time soon. Pasadena, CA has seen 20 cases, mostly in the past 2 months; in an average year, they might see five cases. Long Beach has confirmed 12 cases, double the typical annual number, with more than 2 months left in the …
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As we first told you weeks ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that everyone who should be vaccinated against influenza—which would include all Americans over the age of 6 months, unless they have a contraindication—do so by the end of October. The CDC says the flu will strike early this year, but as always there are more naysayers among the public than there should be. Some people just don’t think it …
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Urgent Message: In order for urgent care to meet the on-demand healthcare needs of the community, it must have a plan to continue operations in the face of unpredictable service disruptions due to manmade or natural disaster. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. From hurricanes to earthquakes to power outages, natural and manmade disasters are on …
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With publication of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) new Qualification of Drivers; Diabetes Standard, drivers who have insulin-treated diabetes will no longer be barred from operating commercial motor vehicles (CMVs). Here’s what you need to really need to know if you offer occupational medicine services such as Department of Transportation physicals in your urgent care center: Certified Medical Examiners will rely on physician input to determine whether to issue a Medical Examiner’s Certificate …
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Maybe all the headlines about how bad the 2017–2018 flu season was will end up having a bright side. According to a just-released survey from urgent care chain CityMD, 57% of Americans say they’ll get a flu shot this year, compared with only 51% who did so in 2016. While that reflects patients in all age groups, the best news might be that those 65 years of age and older make up the largest segment …
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Tower Health, which already operates four hospitals in Pennsylvania, is about to become the biggest urgent care player in the Philadelphia area. Plans are for Tower to buy Premier Urgent Care and its 19 locations in four suburban counties in a deal that’s expected to be completed by early November. When it’s done, the new company will be known as Tower Health Urgent Care. In addition to the Pennsylvania locations, Tower will take over Premier’s …
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Want to make patients happy? Prescribe an antibiotic and send them on their way. If you actually want to practice good antibiotic stewardship and help protect them against future resistance problems by prescribing an antibiotic only when it’s truly warranted, however…well, that’s another story. A study just published in JAMA Internal Medicine reveals that patients rate themselves happiest with a physician visit when they receive an antibiotic prescription they asked for to treat a respiratory …
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