bnapolitano, Author at Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

One More Look at Head Injury Presentations in Urgent Care

In this issue, we’ve offered an urgent care perspective on which patients presenting with head injury are most likely to require a scan, and shared insights into one urgent care center’s efforts to get a handle on which pediatric patients with head injury really need to be transferred to the emergency room. The fact is that the CT scan remains the standard for assessing for traumatic brain injury. The question that remains is, what’s next? …

Effectively Utilizing 90-Day Probationary Periods for New Employees

Urgent message: A 90-day probationary period suspends the standard employment rules for new employees, enabling them to learn the position, but providing an “out” before the employee becomes too entrenched. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care, LLC and is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. Introduction Whenever a company hires a new employee, despite the most sound recruiting and interviewing processes, they’re taking a …

Cervical Facetitis—An Unusual Cause of Neck Pain

Urgent message: Though neck pain is a common complaint among patients presenting to urgent care centers, cervical facetitis is a relatively uncommon cause. Nonetheless, urgent care providers should consider it in the differential diagnosis for patients presenting with neck pain, even those who are afebrile. Mark Richman, MD, MPH; Brendan Appold, MS; and Jennie Soniega-Sherwood, MPH Case Presentation The patient is a 62-year-old-female with no significant past medical history who presented to a hospital-based urgent …

A 42-Year-Old Man with a ‘Flipping’ Sensation in his Heart

Figure 1. The patient is a 42-year-old man with a sensation he describes as his heart “flipping” intermittently for the last 3 days. He denies chest pain, shortness of breath, diaphoresis, or dizziness. Upon exam, you find: General: Alert and oriented X 3, sitting comfortably in a chair Lungs: CTAB Cardiovascular: RRR without murmur, rub, or gallop Abdomen: Soft and NT View the ECG taken and consider what the diagnosis and next steps would be. …

Walgreens May Not Need to Buy a Health Plan to Stay Competitive

The woods have been thick with mergers joining formerly disparate segments of the healthcare industry, with major drugstore chains and insurers being a prime example. The biggest headlines of that lot followed news of CVS’s plans to by Aetna. Nonetheless, one of CVS’s key competitors is sitting out this growing trend, at least for now. Instead, Walgreens Boots Alliance has chosen to stick closer to its core business by building a close relationship with Prime …

Beware Overly Intrusive Online Patient Check-In Systems

On the surface, offering online check-in sounds like a can’t-miss proposition that combines the organization of an appointment-based practice with the convenience of a walk-in system. As with most innovations that purport to solve all your problems in a given area, however, this option is not risk-free for urgent care operators who want to drive up visits while offering a better experience for their patients. According to a new article published on LinkedIn by Alan …

Theft and Diversion of Opiates Are Ongoing Concerns for Urgent Care Operators

It isn’t enough for urgent care clinicians to be more judicious in prescribing opiates for patients in pain. A seamless approach to medication security also has to be in place in order to thwart crooked workers looking to make a quick buck on the backs of addicts in need of a fix. A case in southwest Florida is a painful reminder that anyone with access to addictive drugs could land your business in trouble and …

Urgent Care Operator Files Suit over Health System ‘Anticompetitive Conduct’

Wahidullah Medical Corporation, which does business as Redwood Urgent Care and Laboratory, has filed an antitrust suit against St. Joseph Health, alleging that the system has an “entrenched monopoly” that it leverages to prohibit patients from using nonaffiliated lab services. Besides damaging Redwood’s business, the suit claims that St. Joseph’s tactics allow them to charge exorbitant prices that cost patients and insurers more than they’d be paying otherwise. Redwood alleges that St. Joseph Health prevents …

Study Lists Ways to Ensure a Positive Experience for Kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Children wind up in the urgent care center when they’re not at their best—sickly, often cranky, and not necessarily in the most compliant frame of mind. And that’s “typical” kids. The challenges can increase exponentially for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). How staff and clinicians deal with the patient and family in the urgent care center or emergency room can make all the difference in the world, though, facilitating a better clinical experience and …

Be Vigilant for ‘Small’ Changes in Reimbursement Contracts—They Can Add Up

The fact that reimbursement rates decline while the cost of running a practice goes up is hardly a news flash. Relatively minor details in reimbursement contracts that can ultimately add up to big bucks should not go unnoticed amid all the macrodata, however, according to a recent post on Doctor Discourse. Many changes that may seem to be random moves that your staff just has to get used to may also bring new opportunities to …