StuWilli, Author at Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Secure Your Practice Against Cyberattacks: Video Post #2

Earlier this week, we brought you new data concerning ransomware cyberattacks on small businesses—and how to avoid falling prey to one. In the second segment of our three-part series, Randall Dennis, cybersecurity expert and COO of Guidance Partners, explains the various categories of cyberattacks and what steps you can take to thwart efforts to steal and exploit sensitive business and patient information. Dennis says cyberattacks on small and medium-sized businesses are on the rise, with over …

‘Membership’ Medicine Can Build Loyalty, Broaden Access to Urgent Care

Offering annual “memberships” to your urgent care center can be a good move to build customer loyalty, but also to encourage patients to seek care then they need it. FastMed Urgent Care, for one, has a program wherein patients pay $35 a year to receive a $35 discount for each subsequent self-pay visit. The plan also covers spouses and children under 18 who live in the same household and provides a prescription discount card where …

Wife of Ex-NBA Player Jumps into the Urgent Care Game

Jennifer Ilgauskas saw how much her husband—former Cleveland Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas—relied on doctors and physical therapists to overcome injuries as quickly and safely as possible in his playing days. Now she says that inspired her to put her Master’s degree in public health to use by opening an urgent care center with a physician partner. That operation has been going so well that the duo just opened a second urgent care business, Lakewood Urgent …

Federal Judge Says EMTALA Covers Hospital-Owned Urgent Care Center

Urgent care centers are distinct from emergency rooms by virtue of the amount of time patients can expect to wait, cost, and the acuity of care offered. A federal court in Rhode Island determined that, at least in one case, they can be held to the same requirements of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) as hospital emergency departments, though. Friedrich, et al v South County Hospital Healthcare System, et al centered …

Pain and Changes in Appearance in a Child’s Eye

Parents bring their 2-year-old boy to an urgent care center after noticing that his right pupil looks white, and that the eye is excessively teary and looks bloodshot. They report that they boy has also complained that it hurts on occasion. View the image taken (Figure 1) and consider what your diagnosis would be

How to Cope with a Difficult Boss

Urgent message: When employees in an urgent care center encounter a physician or administrator who is challenging to work for, there are often steps they can take to avoid having to choose between their job and their sense of wellbeing. In today’s busy work environment, we interact with dozens of people every day, and sometimes challenging individuals go with the territory. Nevertheless, coping with a troublesome boss is overwhelming, and studies have shown that …

Urgent Care Needed Most During Community Flu Outbreaks

With many states stuck in their peak flu seasons and death tolls rising—24 people have died from influenza in the state of Washington, alone—urgent care centers are being called upon to offer twofold support: First, to administer flu shots to patients who haven’t received them and provide supportive care for those who have influenza, and second, to care for patients fleeing emergency rooms that are overflowing with flu patients. Make sure area primary care office …

UCA: More Urgent Care Centers Are Seeing More Patients in Less Time

The Urgent Care Association’s annual Benchmarking Report reveals these are boom times for the urgent care industry. The number of centers in the U.S. is up 10% from the previous year (to 7,357); 96% of urgent care centers saw more patients in 2015 than in 2014; and 92% of centers kept wait times to ≤30 minutes. Best of all, nine out of 10 centers expect continued growth, with many also saying they’re extending the services …

Supporting the Community is Good for Urgent Care Business

Total Access Urgent Care in Missouri promises to provide “fast, friendly, affordable care.” It’s a catchy enough phrase, but what’s most arresting about it is that potential patients aren’t hearing it in a traditional TV or radio ad, or reading it in a brochure; they’re absorbing it in a brief, 15-second clip that precedes a local sports story they clicked on while visiting the St. Louis Fox Television affiliate’s website. Total Access, which bills itself …