Practice Management
We told you recently that fewer than half the patients in the “millennials” age group (roughly, those born between 1982 and 2004) are planning to get a flu shot this year—in spite of the fact that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging patients in general to get vaccinated earlier than ever. Now a study by UPI indicates that U.S. parents who don’t get their kids immunized make that choice because they simply …
Read More
Despite ready availability of condoms—as well as information through providers, public outreach campaigns, and the ubiquitous internet, cases of sexually transmitted disease reported in the U.S. reached an all-time high last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Combined reported cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis totaled more than 1.8 million in 2015, according to the CDC’s annual Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance Report. Sadly, those numbers are probably lower than the true …
Read More
Uber drivers may be more inclined to drive themselves and their families to GoHealth Urgent Care Locations in the San Francisco area, thanks to incentives GoHealth parent Dignity Health is offering. The company is offering personalized and tech-enabled care to Uber drivers and their families at urgent-care clinics in the San Francisco Bay Area. They can also schedule appointments through an exclusive online and mobile platform and access a health education and wellness program that, …
Read More
Boston Medical Center has launched a new concept in both urgent care and the fight against opioid abuse by opening an opioid urgent care center that aims to give patients faster access to substance abuse treatment. Faster Paths to Treatment will be operated in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, which provided a 4-year, $2.9 million grant, and the Boston Public Health Commission. It will offer inpatient and outpatient services to help individuals …
Read More
A 35-year-old woman presents to an urgent care center with severe right wrist pain after a fall onto her outstretched hand after tripping on the sidewalk. She has significant pain throughout the range of motion as well as at rest. She has minimal numbness of the fingers. She has no other visible injuries, and on questioning, she reports that she has no elbow, shoulder, head, or neck pain. View the image taken (Figure 1) and …
Read More
An urgent care operator in Louisiana has found an original way to literally drive traffic for its flu shot program: For one day, it set up a drive-through flu shot station in the parking lot so patients could get their vaccination without even getting out of the car. The move added an extra layer of convenience above the core urgent care attribute of walk-in treatment and preventive care. Besides the obvious benefit of ensuring that …
Read More
Ensign Group has sold its Seattle area urgent care centers to MultiCare Health System, a nonprofit healthcare group, for an undisclosed sum. The deal includes 14 existing clinics, along with two more under development. Ensign says it made the move to devote more of its resources to what it considers its own core strengths in subacute care, as well as skilled nursing, physical therapy, hospice, and other services. MultiCare already has 17 urgent care locations …
Read More
Legislators in New Jersey are weighing the relative benefits of telemedicine in order to ensure the evolving technology is used properly—namely, that there’s no danger of virtual doctor visits taking the place of in-person care then the latter is clearly needed. Advocates point out that sometimes patients need to see a physician after even urgent care centers have close, though their symptoms don’t warrant an expensive trip to the emergency room. Detractors say some patients …
Read More
Patients have options for getting to many care settings even if they’re unable to drive themselves or get a ride from a loved one. Some Medicaid patients arrive in the emergency room in an ambulance—even if they’re complaints don’t warrant such urgency. A couple of major health plans in Miami send vans around to collect Medicare members who need to see their primary care, and employers often provide transportation to workers who need to see …
Read More
Patients may have contracted pneumonia in another healthcare setting, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be walking through your door when symptoms hit them hard and fast. Worse, antibiotic resistance is a real threat in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP); in fact, recent studies have shown that resistance has more than doubled admissions to the ICU and increased complications by 51%. Are you prepared to identify CAP in your urgent care center—and to treat patients early so …
Read More