Practice Management
McKesson is getting out of the business of providing electronic health record and practice management products to small physician practices by virtue of selling those product lines to e-MDs. Urgent care providers have been among the 35,000 customers, which average 1.5 physicians per practice, relying on those services. There is no timeline for the deal to be completed, though e-MDs says there will be “some time limit” to how long it will support the McKesson …
Read MoreTracking and reporting quality measures cost four specialties—including primary care, cardiology, orthopedics, and “multispecialty”—$15.4 billion annually, according to a new study published in Health Affairs. One concern voiced by the authors is that standardization of quality measures is sorely lacking so, in effect, such measures may have little meaning to begin with. The data are based on surveys of 250 practices from each of the selected specialties. On average, physicians spend 2.6 hours per week …
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Florida’s insurance regulators have already given their blessing, but three physician groups are asking the state’s attorney general to put the kibosh on the proposed merger between Aetna Inc. and Humana, Inc. The American Medical Association, Florida Medical Association, and Florida Osteopathic Medical Association all say the merger would reduce competition to such an extent that healthcare access, quality, and affordability would suffer across the state. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation approved the deal …
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s warnings that the 2015–2016 might end up being late, and not just light, are coming to fruition from coast to coast—with deadly consequences for some. New data highlight the need for urgent care providers to continue pushing flu shots and to be prepared for more patients with flu-like symptoms. Current flu activity has been called “widespread” in 37 states, with physician visits for flu-like symptoms continuing to rise; …
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ChoiceOne Urgent Care is joining Gwinnett Medical Center to bring a new network of urgent care facilities to Gwinnett County, Georgia residents. In addition to standard urgent care, they will offer occupational medicine, vaccinations, sports physicals, and lab services in order to give patients immediate options short of a visit to the emergency room. ChoiceOne says they will also focus on continuity of care by partnering with Gwinnett Medical primary care providers and specialists, even …
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Urgent care clinicians and owners are ratcheting up efforts to enlighten their potential patient base on the benefits and value of urgent care. Local media outlets have been awash recently in physician-penned articles explaining what presenting complaints can be managed in the urgent care setting vs those that truly need the resources of an emergency room. Now some operators are taking their message to the streets by conducting live patient education seminars. Case in point: …
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High deductibles may be keeping some patients from getting the care they really need—clearly a risk for them but also a possible impediment to healthcare reform in the U.S., according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Not mentioned is the fact that urgent care may offer a solution to at least one of those challenges by offering care whose cost is scaled to the appropriate acuity level. The study …
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URGENT MESSAGE: During the gold rush of the mid-1800s, miners and bartenders enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship in which neither could survive the Wild West without the other. In the modern “gold rush” of U.S. healthcare spending, coordinators of population health and service/technology innovators are working together to improve outcomes and lower costs, propelling new business models—including urgent care. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Practice Management Editor of JUCM—The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine, …
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GoNow Doctors is making good on its vow to keep growing in the urgent care sector, having just purchased Medac Health Services in the Wilmington, NC area. The four clinics, including one that offers occupational medicine services, will continue to operate under the Medac name. With the completion of the Medac acquisition, GoNow Doctors now has its hands on 13 urgent and primary care centers in the eastern part of the country. At the same …
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Healthcare costs are proving to be the ruin of too many people in the U.S., highlighting the need for urgent care to present itself as a viable, high-quality alternative to budget-breaking trips to the emergency room. Facts: Medical bankruptcy, which affects 2 million people, has become the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the U.S., and roughly 20% of adults have trouble affording medical care, according to NerdWallet.com. With as many as eight out of …
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