These data from the 2012 Urgent Care Industry Benchmarking Study are based on a sample of 1,732 urgent care centers; 95.2% of the respondents were UCA members. Among other criteria, the study was limited to centers that have a licensed provider onsite at all times; have two or more exam rooms; typically are open 7 days/week, 4 hours/day, at least 3,000 hours/year; and treat patients of all ages (unless specifically a pediatric urgent care).
Read MoreClinical Challenge 2: March 2014
THE CASE The patient, a 6-year-old girl, presented with a fever and cough. View the image taken (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis would be.
Read MoreUrgent care codes, E/M Guidelines, ICD-10
Q. Is there a defined set of diagnosis codes for urgent care services and is there a diagnosis code that indicates the services were urgent? A. All facilities use the same set of ICD-9 codes to report the patient’s diagnosis. There are no diagnosis codes to represent urgent care services, but there are certain procedure codes you can use to indicate that services were rendered in an urgent care clinic and also procedure codes to …
Read MoreAbstracts in Urgent Care: March, 2014
Reconsidering antibiotics for COPD exacerbation Key point: Prescribing antibiotics to patients with mild-to-moderate COPD exacerbations who have no change in sputum probably is unnecessary. Citation: Miravitlles M, Moragas A, Hernandez S, et al. Is it possible to identify exacerbations of mild to moderate COPD that do not require antibiotic treatment? Chest. 2013;144(5): 1571-1577. The decision to prescribe antibiotics to patients with moderate to mild-to-moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations is usually based on increased …
Read MoreClinical Challenge – March 2014
THE CASE The patient, a 67-year-old man, presented after a blow to his left shoulder. View the image taken (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis would be.
Read MoreMalpractice Trends in Urgent Care and Retail Medicine
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP with ANDREW SNIEGOWSKI, RN, JD CANDIDATE 2014 Over the last 6 years I have written a number of articles on medical malpractice in urgent care medicine. The good news is that I am seeing fewer cases despite the fact that there are more urgent care centers and more patient visits. The bad news is that I am still seeing the same fact patterns time and again. Failure to diagnose …
Read MoreMOC…Part Duhhh!
Lee A. Resnick, MD, FAAFP I first wrote about the disaster that is Maintenance of Certification (MOC) in June 2012. As a refresher, MOC was adopted by all 24 American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) member boards in 2006. The move was promoted under the guise of a commitment to quality care and best practices. Despite no clear evidence that MOC works to achieve these goals, the requirements were adopted without debate. That’s right, the …
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Side Effects of New Weight Loss Medications
Urgent message: With the epidemic of obesity and recent FDA-approval of weight loss drugs, urgent care providers should be on alert for patient presentations related to side effects of these agents. Introduction An estimated 154.7 million Americans over the age of 20 are currently overweight or obese. These Americans are at increased risk of disease, including diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, end-stage renal disease and cancer. If current trends remain unchanged, an estimated $861 to $957 …
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March 2014
Expert Perspectives on Grassroots Marketing in Urgent Care
Urgent message: Grassroots marketing tactics can be effective in engaging a center’s providers and staff with the communities they serve while also educating prospective patients about the availability of urgent care. Introduction This roundtable focuses on grassroots marketing for urgent care centers, which differs from traditional advertising in that it involves more interaction with prospective patients and requires a hands-on approach to building relationships and spurring word-of-mouth in the community. The panel of experts we’ve …
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