Case A 56-year-old woman presents to an urgent care center with severe ankle pain after stepping off a curb. The physician obtains a radiograph of her ankle. View the image taken (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page.
Read MoreRediscovering Your Service Mission
It comes as no surprise to anyone that health care is broken. Too many interest groups, too much regulation, too many poorly aligned incentives, too many unrealistic expectations, and too many myopic solutions. Worse, the physician voice has been weakened and handicapped by a combination of our patient-first mission and by the distraction inherent in a profoundly complicated professional discipline. Think of it this way: If your primary mission was profit and the financial engineering …
Read MoreHow to Recognize and Handle Potentially Litigious Patients
Angela T. Burnette, JD Urgent message: Although any urgent care center could potentially face litigation at any time, the risks of being sued can be reduced by focusing on provider behaviors that build strong relationships with patients, by recognizing patient behaviors that may increase the odds of litigation, and by having a plan for handling dissatisfied patients. Lawsuits do not discriminate. They are filed against all types of health-care providers—new or experienced, group practice or …
Read MoreTop 3 Rapid Tests Performed at U.S. Urgent Care Centers in 2014
Data from the 2014 Urgent Care Chart Survey of 1,778,075 blinded visits by patients to more than 800 different urgent care clinics, conducted by the Journal of Urgent Care Medicine, reveal that the top 3 rapid tests performed at U.S. urgent care centers in 2014 were as follows, in descending order: • Rapid group A Streptococcus test—15.59 million tests • Rapid influenza test—13.91 million tests • Rapid chlamydia test—0.92 million tests The survey’s methodology and …
Read MoreClinical Challenge 2: October, 2015
Case A 17-year-old presents with hard, painless masses on the shin. View the image taken (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page.
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Making a Business Case for Urgent Care Holiday Hours
URGENT MESSAGE: Whether an urgent care center should be open 365 days per year or close on major or minor holidays depends upon factors that influence profitability, such as patient demand, competitive positioning, staff availability, payer reimbursement, and the branding impact of after-hours accessibility. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine, serves on the Board of Directors of the Urgent Care Association, and is Vice President …
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ACP Calls for Scope of Practice Limits on Retail Clinics
The American College of Physicians has called for scope of practice limits on retail health clinics such as those built into chain drugstores. In the executive summary of a policy position paper by Hilary Daniel and Shari Erikson and published on the website of the Annals of Internal Medicine, ACP expressed concern over recent efforts to manage chronic conditions in the retail setting, suggesting that research into potential negative outcomes may be desirable. It acknowledged …
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Defense Bill Veto Leaves Urgent Care Visits in Limbo for Military and Families
President Obama’s veto of the $612 billion defense spending bill last week could affect more than traditional military contractors and pay raises for service members. The bill would have allowed more than a million military personnel and their families to seek care at urgent care centers directly; currently, they have to get a referral from their primary care physician. Both houses of Congress passed the bill, which has other healthcare implications besides the urgent care …
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NY Urgent Care Centers Agree to Beef Up Insurance Disclosures
A handful of urgent care centers in New York will have to find ways to make their fee structure and status with various health plans clearer to prospective patients as part of a settlement with the state attorney general’s office. The four operators, all in the New York City metropolitan area, have agreed to do the following: Identify all health plans with which it has contracted to be an in-network, participating provider on its website. If …
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Eighteen-Year-Old with Cough and Yellow Sputum
An 18-year-old young woman without a significant past medical history presents after 4 days of a cough productive of yellow sputum. Her mother states that her daughter has felt warm to the touch, but she has not checked her temperature with a thermometer. View the radiograph obtained (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis would be.
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