Practice Management
It’s too late to be truly unprecedented, but Cigna’s announcement that it plans to buy Express Scripts, the largest pharmacy benefit management company in the U.S., signals that lines between “traditional” segments of the healthcare industry will continue to be breached for the foreseeable future. Once the deal is done, the combined company will reside in Cigna’s Connecticut headquarters, headed by Cigna CEO David Cordani. The Express Scripts unit will still be based in St. …
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Vermont is looking at changing how it classifies urgent care centers, with an eye toward forcing operators to file a certificate of need (CON) before starting construction projects. Right now, independent Vermont urgent care centers are viewed as physician offices, which are exempt from filing a CON. The state’s Office of the Health Care Advocate says it would be more correct to view them as “medical facilities,” which would trigger the need for them to …
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As we’ve discussed here previously, the more widespread legalization of marijuana use around the country is presenting any number of challenges for urgent care providers who offer drug-testing services to occupational medicine customers. One wrinkle: Legalization does not necessarily affect regulations laid down by employers regarding employee use. Some legislators in California want to put a stop to that by enacting legislation that would protect workers from disciplinary action, including dismissal, for using marijuana. Assembly …
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Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield raised the ire of hospitals, some physicians, and patient-advocacy groups when it enacted a policy of denying claims for ED visits it eventually deems to have been nonemergent. A new bill in Ohio would put a stop to that practice as it now exists, on the grounds that the policy amounts to noncompliance with state insurance regulations. As such, Anthem would lose standing to secure state government contracts, as well …
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Though 45 states still report “widespread cases” of influenza, the total number of new cases in the United States is down for the second week in a row, leading the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to declare that flu season has peaked. Only 5% of people visited providers complaining of flu symptoms last week, down from 6.4% the previous week. The agency cautioned that this does not mean it’s time to be less vigilant …
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Workers who need to rehab injuries can now do so without schlepping to a physical therapy practice under a new initiative just launched by Concentra in California. The “telerehab” program hooks up employees with workers comp claims with Concentra therapy clinicians from home or work, with the intention of improving compliance and speeding recovery and return to full function on the job. Presumably, the program will be expanded to others states if it’s successful.
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Hospital-owned urgent care centers continue to be a growing segment of the marketplace—but their growth is still not on pace with privately owned companies, especially larger entities like MedExpress, CityMD, and others, according to a new report from Merchant Medicine. In Calm Before the Storm?, CEO Tom Charland points out that industry growth last year was led by “top independent operators” who grew 11% in 2017. Hospitals are opening more centers, too, just not as …
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The country’s most recognized business publication has picked up on what we’ve been sharing with you all along: The urgent care market has done nothing but grow in recent years, to the point that it’s overall value is now estimated to be $18 billion. Forbes just ran an article also noting that the most recent industry projections see further growth of 5.8% in this year alone. Forbes observed that our industry is not only growing …
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Perhaps inspired by plans other major employers have to launch their own healthcare entities for employees, Apple will roll out onsite health clinics for its workers this spring as it scales back dependence on outside providers. Rather than making a formal announcement, however, Apple launched a new website for AC Wellness—recognizing correctly that business media would take notice. The site describes AC Wellness as “an independent medical practice dedicated to delivering compassionate, effective healthcare to …
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Shortening duration of treatment, adopting a multimodal, nonopioid model for acute pain management treatment, and establishing a system for notifying primary care providers when their patients are prescribed opiates are high on the list of recommendations just issued by the Texas Hospital Association (THA) for emergency room clinicians. While the guidelines are voluntary, they reflect a growing trend toward institutionalizing opiate prescribing practices in multiple settings around the country. They could reasonably be viewed as …
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