Practice Management
Even urgent care centers, known for their ability to get patients in and out far more efficiently than other settings, can seem too slow for some patients on a given day. New technologies are improving systems all the time, though, making it possible for patients to cut the time of an urgent care visit even further. For one, PhysicianOne Urgent Care offers patients the chance to view the current wait time at any of its …
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It’s an age-old adage: You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Ironically, young adults in the “Millennial” age group (often defined as those born between 1982 and 2004) seem to have adopted it as a mantra when it comes to healthcare. New data from the Health Industry Distributors Association (HIDA) show Millennials are less inclined than other age groups to make a second trip to a healthcare provider if they were …
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Cyberattacks on small and mediums-sized businesses (eg, urgent care centers) are on the rise, with the odds of a business interruption due to cyberattack being 33%, according to Randall Dennis, cybersecurity expert and COO of Guidance Partners, which provides IT infrastructure for midsized companies in healthcare and other industries. In fact, Dennis reports, there were over 4,000 ransomware attacks daily in the United States since early 2016—up 300% over the same period for the previous …
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Once the geese start heading south for the winter, retirees can’t be far behind. The question is, where’s home, medically speaking? Typically, these snowbirds (seniors who spend the warmer months in the states where they established their lives but head to southern climates for the winter) keep their “regular” doctors up north but don’t have close ties to medical care near their winter homes. Urgent care could be the perfect solution, however, especially if operators …
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Ochsner Health System has enriched its urgent care and occupational medicine holdings by buying Millennium Healthcare Management (MHM). The deal includes MHM’s 12 urgent care centers—nearly doubling the number of locations Ochsner will have in southeast Louisiana, to 25—and four occupational health clinics. Ochsner, one of the first companies to open urgent care centers in the region after Hurricane Katrina, has treated roughly 135,000 patients among its facilities annually.
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With months of the flu season still ahead and the rate of new cases continuing to rise across the country, now is the time to step up efforts to immunize as many patients as possible. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that outpatient visits for flu-like symptoms are up 3.4% compared with this point in last year’s flu season. Further, more than 1,300 people were hospitalized between October and December (the month when …
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Regardless of the setting in which they practice, urgent care clinicians play a crucial role in emergency medicine, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians—so much so that AAFP officially renamed one of its subgroups the Member Interest Group Emergency Medicine/Urgent Care (MIG EM/UC). In a new review article published in the current issue of Annals of Family Medicine, Banks, et al note that a “persistent shortages of residency-trained emergency physicians” creates a need …
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Military veterans’ access to healthcare took a huge leap forward last year—and urgent care was a big factor, according to a new study by the University of Pittsburgh Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, Program Evaluation and Research Unit (PERU). Working in conjunction with the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), the researchers concluded that MyVA Access, implemented in 2015, established sustainable solutions within VA facilities to …
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Oklahoma is the latest state to report an outbreak of mumps, joining Washington, New York, Arkansas, and Missouri in what’s become the heaviest season for confirmed cases in years. Washington, New York, and Arkansas continue to report new cases in multiple counties, while Missouri’s case load seems to have leveled off, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Not surprisingly, most cases in every state are clustered around school populations, though …
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Increasingly, paramedics are being employed (literally) to fill gaps in urgent care staffs around the country. The level of real-world experience and knowledge capable paramedics bring to the table make them well suited for a variety of tasks, from training medical assistants (MAs) to providing clinical care. Consider the following: Paramedics have more advanced skills than an MA, but not as much as a registered nurse (hence, they do not command as high a price …
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