StuWilli, Author at Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Small Urgent Care Centers Have Bargaining Power, Too

Large healthcare organizations may have advantages when it comes to negotiating acquisitions of smaller urgent care centers, but with the right approach smaller operators can narrow the gap and do quite well for themselves. That’s the key message an article published in Becker’s Hospital Review. Quoting an expert from a mergers-and-acquisitions (M&A) advisory firm, the article offers the following five steps urgent care centers can take when negotiating: Make time for preparation.That means fully evaluating …

How Colleagues Treat Each Other Affects Quality of Care—and Outcomes

Rude behavior in the workplace might cost you good employees. Even worse, though, a new study indicates the consequences of incivility extend to patients. In a blog post for The Wall Street Journal, Dr. Gurpreet Dhaliwal, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and a practicing physician at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, describes what happened when clinical staff participating in an Israeli training exercise were broken into 24 pairs …

Urgent Care is One Focus of New CMS Antibiotic Stewardship Initiative

As antibiotic resistance continues to grow, organizations from the Urgent Care Association of America to the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have asked their audiences to take a close look at what they can do to curb unnecessary prescriptions that exacerbate the problem. (The cover article in the May issue of JUCM will look at how one institution tackled this problem, as well.) Now the Centers for Medicare …

Hospitals Try ‘Loss Leader’ Approach to Keep Patients Away from Urgent Care

Hospital operators like Mission Health System in North Carolina and Rush University Medical Center are trying a new approach to draw in patients off the street: offering urgent care at primary care prices. It seems to be working, too, as visits to other urgent care centers are down in the Asheville, NC area since Mission made their move. Mission My Care Now has opened four primary care locations that are open to walk-in patients beyond …

Legislators May Face Healthcare Protests and Angry Voters Over Recess

A lot of Republicans are angry that their elected officials have failed, thus far, to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”) with something more to their liking. There may be an equal number of Democrats railing about the prospect of Congress doing exactly that. Senators and Congresspersons can expect to get an earful from both over the 2-week spring recess. Healthcare providers are likely to make their wishes known, too. Some legislators have …

Michigan Blues Start Pushing Telemedicine

Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Michigan and Blue Care Network have apparently seen the light when it comes to the benefits of telemedicine. They’re working with physician groups on creating new financial incentives to expand member utilization. Seventeen groups, in fact, have already submitted telemedicine plans that could reap additional payments. Others are strategizing the best way to incorporate or expand telehealth offerings. BCBS says urgent care will figure prominently in its own efforts. …

‘Space for Lease’ Could be a Good Sign for Urgent Care

Downturns in other industries (remember video stores?) have proven to be golden opportunities for urgent care, as landlords eager to find solid customers have come to appreciate the industry’s stability. Now it appears that 10% of retail space may be up for grabs in the next few years, according to data from CoStar Group, thanks to the ever-growing popularity of online retailers. A fondness for take-out food is also hurting middle-of-the-road restaurants. Healthcare is practically …

Competitive Edge: The Importance of Taking Accurate Vitals

Urgent message: Recording thorough and accurate vital signs supports the urgent care physician in asking the right questions of the patient’s history of present illness, guides the physician in the physical exam, and thus is essential in reaching an accurate diagnosis and devising an effective treatment plan. Imagine you are a medical assistant on duty in a busy urgent care center. A patient walks in, and you check him in. You ask his height and …

Could Telehealth Be the Key to Urgent Care Realizing ‘Triple Aim?’

Urgent care has continued to grow based on its attributes of improving patients’ care experience at a lower cost than the emergency room, and by contributing to healthier populations—a triad of goals referred to as “triple aim.” Maintaining that growth may depend on outpacing other settings’ ability to change with the times. Twenty years since its inception—coinciding with urgent care’s own growth trajectory—telehealth may prove to be an invaluable tool in accomplishing that. One operator …

CDC: New Data Show Flu Shots Save Children’s Lives

Children whose parents ensure they get flu shots stand a significantly lower risk for death from influenza than children who are not vaccinated, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In fact, the CDC says between 2010 and 2014 flu vaccinations reduced the risk of flu-associated death by half among children with underlying high-risk medical conditions, and by nearly two-thirds among healthy children. The study, published in Pediatrics, is thought …