StuWilli, Author at Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

These data from the 2010 Urgent Care Benchmarking Survey are based on responses of 1,691 US urgent care centers; 32% were UCA members. The survey was limited to “full-fledged urgent care centers” accepting walk-ins during all hours of operation; having a licensed provider and x-ray and lab equipment onsite; the ability to administer IV fluids and perform minor procedures; and having minimal business hours of seven days per week, four hours per day. In this …

Benchmarks for E/M Codes; Place of Service (POS) Codes

DAVID STERN, MD (Practice Velocity) Q. Is there a benchmark for E/M codes in the urgent care setting? For instance, are there a certain percentage of 99213 vs. 99214 for established patients? Currently out urgent care providers’ coding is being compared to CMS Family Practice standard. A. To my knowledge, there is no published information detailing E/M distribution for urgent care facilities. If there was, however, it would simply document what was actually being coded …

Clinical Challenge: June, 2012

The patient, an 18-year-old male, presented after a fall and blow to the right trochanter. He was ambulating well. View the image taken (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page.

Abstracts in Urgent Care: June, 2012

Is Oral Antibiotic Therapy Enough for Children with Acute Pyelonephritis? Key point: A randomized trial failed to prove the acceptability of oral antibiotic monotherapy relative to sequential intravenous and oral therapy, but evidence supporting and treatment alone as an option is accumulating. Citation: Bocquet N, Sergent AA, Jais JP, et al. Randomized trial of oral versus sequential IV/oral antibiotic for acute pyelonephritis in children. Pediatrics. 2012; 129(2): e269-275. Children with acute pyelonephritis typically receive intravenous …

Sister Morphine

JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP The hard core rockers amongst us know that Sister Morphine was written and recorded by Marianne Faithful while she was dating Mick Jagger during the time he and the Stones were recording Let it Bleed in 1969. Marianne’s version tanked early, but the song was later covered by the Stone and received more acclaim. Parenthetically, she did not receive credit until the Stones’ 1998 No Security album. The song …

Workplace Gossip in Urgent Care: The Impact of Toxic Talk

Urgent message: Malicious gossip in an urgent care center can undermine trust, service, and teamwork. Knowing how to spot toxic talk is the first step to rooting it out before it takes hold. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc, Experity What’s the harm in a little workplace gossip? Well, consider what happens when a billing manager opines that an operations manager “slept” her way into a job. Or, when a new executive tells a staff member …

Drug Toxicity Following Trip to the Local Head Shop

Urgent message: Thorough work-up is mandatory for patients with mild symptoms from recent use of “bath salts” because of the potential for multi-systems failure. JOHN K. GRANDY BS, MS, RPA-C Case Presentation A 19-year-old male is brought to an urgent care clinic by his mother, who states that her son and his friends took “Molly Mosquito Caps” 2 days ago that were purchased from a local head shop. The patient and his friends all experienced …

The Role of Urgent Care Centers in Regional Acute Coronary Syndrome Care

Urgent message: Patients with chest pain/acute coronary syndrome often present in outpatient medical settings—including urgent care centers—not designed to treat life-threatening conditions. Exclusive new data suggest that urgent care centers need to be integrated into pre-hospital cardiovascular care pathways. JASON T. WEINGART, MD, THOMAS P. CARRIGAN, MD, MHSA, LEE RESNICK, MD, DANIEL ELLENBERGER, BS, DANIEL I. SIMON, MD, and RICHARD A. JOSEPHSON, MS, MD Emergency medical services and hospital-based emergency departments (EDs) are typically incorporated …

Author: StuWilli

June 2012

Developing Data: June, 2012