StuWilli, Author at Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Protecting Patients and Assets: Pre-employment Background Checks and Drug Screening

ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc, Experity A number of patients who had been dispensed the narcotic hydrocodone called the urgent care center to complain that their medications “weren’t potent enough,” that they “didn’t work,” or that the pills in the bottle “didn’t match the description on the label.” Although these reports were initially dismissed by the medical director as drug-seeking behavior, the volume and corroboration of complaints soon led to an internal investigation. It turned …

Investment Trends in Urgent Care: A Mergers and Acquisitions Roundtable

Urgent message: Urgent care is a highly fragmented industry considered ripe for consolidation. A handful of high-profile deals have made 2015 the biggest year for mergers and acquisitions yet, but high valuations, oversaturated markets, changing buyer and seller expectations, and structural changes attributable to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will influence urgent care deal-making in coming years. ALEXANDER NATHANSON, MD Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the U.S. urgent care industry have historically consisted …

Electrocardiogram Data Points and Evaluation and Management Visit Level; Gait Training

Q. When counting data points for the complexity of medical decision-making (CMDM) portion of the evaluation and management (E/M) visit level, what is the correct way to assign data points for an electrocardiogram? For example, the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code is 71020 for a chest radiograph with interpretation and report. The description itself has the interpretation and analysis included in the code already. Is it considered double-dipping if we count the interpretation as 1 …

Urgent Care Management of Animal Bites and Stings

Urgent message: Because bite and stings can be sustained in a variety of settings from many different animals and can transmit a wide variety of infectious agents, urgent care providers should have specific knowledge about treating wounds from mammals, nonmammals, and marine animals. ALEXANDER NATHANSON, MD Practitioners at urgent care centers often see patients who have sustained animal bites or stings. In addition to causing structural damage to tissues, bites and stings expose patients to …

Adult with Painful Lesion That Enlarges and Darkens

An 80-year-old man reports waking up with a localized area of erythema on his forehead. He says that he did not worry about it until the lesion slowly became white and then started turning blue over a few hours. He says that the lesion is painful and is getting larger and darker. He reports no headaches, muscle pain, abdominal pain, sweating, or tremors. View the image taken (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis would …

Skin Rash with Pustules on a Newborn

A healthy, full-term baby girl was born to a healthy mother who had adequate prenatal care and no signs of infectious diseases. Three days after birth, the baby developed multiple 1-mm pale-yellow to yellow pustules within a large inflammatory wheal on her cheek. Several hours later, the rash starts to resolve. View the image taken (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis would be.

Concussion Care Adds Value to an Urgent Care Sports, Camp, and School Physical Program

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc, is Practice Management Editor for JUCM—The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine, a Board Director for the Urgent Care Association of America, and Vice President of Strategic Initiatives with Experity. Urgent message: Many urgent care centers have embraced school, sports, and camp physicals as a way to raise awareness of their services among athletic directors, coaches, trainers, and parents of high school and middle school students. Because of the increasing attention …

Clinical Challenge 2: July/August, 2015

The Case A patient presents after a backward fall off a ladder. View the image taken (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis would be.

Maintenance of Certification: A Punch in the Gut

In an era of plummeting leverage and influence over health care and the well-being of our practices and patients, physicians desperately need representation. Our collective voice has been muzzled and utterly dismissed when it comes to health-care delivery and economics. We have essentially been relegated to serving as the voice of public health and clinical best practice, nothing more. How did we get here, and what are our representatives in our professional organizations doing to …

Implications of Patients Recording Urgent Care Provider Encounters

Urgent message: The ubiquity of smartphones increases the risk that patients will openly or covertly record interactions with their physicians. Urgent care operators should understand the legal and privacy implications and protect themselves with appropriate policies and training. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc Practice Velocity Smartphones with cameras and audio and video recorders that can be easily concealed in a pocket, purse, or backpack are now used by roughly 71% of Americans, including 86% of …