StuWilli, Author at Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

New Data Show Ongoing Growth in Spite of Increasing Competition for Urgent Care

On-demand care is no longer limited to urgent care and the emergency room. Retail clinics and telemedicine give healthcare consumers more choices than ever before. That’s done nothing to impede the growth of urgent care, however. The latest annual Benchmarking Report from the Urgent Care Association (formerly the Urgent Care Association of America) and Merchant Medicine shows that urgent care operators continue to see consistent, year-over-year growth in spite of the increased competition. That goes …

UCAOA Reimagines Itself as UCA to Reflect the Evolution of On-Demand Care

As noted in the latest benchmarking data on the urgent care industry, the very nature of on-demand care has changed since the birth of the Urgent Care Association of America. To demonstrate that this is not a time for “business as usual,” UCAOA announced at its recent annual convention in Las Vegas that it’s changing its name to the Urgent Care Association (UCA) and expanding its offerings to include new providers and technologies that are …

UCAOA Webinar: Budgeting with an Eye for the Future

The business of urgent care may be taking care of patients, but that business won’t last long without sound financial practices. Understanding that the money coming in has to be more than the money going out doesn’t take a whole lot of acumen; truly grasping how to maximize the process for the current health and future growth of the business is another thing, however. The Urgent Care Association of America has invited speaker Dan Phillips …

Penn Medicine Adds Services and Resources in Launching New Telehealth Hub

With the opening of its new 24/7 Center for Connected Care, Penn Medicine now operates one of the larges telehealth hubs in the U.S. In addition to virtual urgent care services, the system houses Penn Medicine’s 15-year-old e-ICU, and a service that focuses on patients with chronic illness. It has 50 full-time employees. The move reflects growing use of virtual care across the country, as confirmed by data from Sage Growth Partners revealing that 56% …

More States Try to Address Opioid Crisis Legislatively

West Virginia and Florida are the latest states to seek a legislative solution to the nation’s ongoing crisis of opioid misuse, abuse, and related deaths. In West Virginia, the state senate just voted unanimously to limit new painkiller prescriptions for most patients to a 7-day supply, though the number would be lower for urgent care centers and emergency rooms (4 days) and for dentists and ophthalmologists (3 days). Florida is looking at a bill that …

New Data: More than Half of Adults Have Used Online Resources In Lieu of Primary Care

A new study from the University of Phoenix College of Health Professionals reveals that 59% of American adults have used online resources (eg, WebMD) to explore symptoms instead of visiting a primary care physician. Just 12% have used telemedicine in place of primary care. The data reflect an online survey of 2,201 people from a range of demographic categories. Doris Savron, executive dean, interpreted the data as proof that the healthcare industry is leaning toward …

Ohio Urgent Care Operators Takes Part in Phase 3 Trial for Diabetes-Related Treatment

An urgent care operator in Ohio is one of the 14 sites in a phase 3 clinical trial for a prospective Allergan product to treat patients with diabetic gastroparesis (DG), a condition that slows or stops the movement of food from the stomach to the small intestine. The trial, officially titled A 46-week, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, Phase 3 Study With a 6-week Randomized-withdrawal Period to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of Relamorelin in Patients with Diabetic …

A 15-Year-Old Boy with Wrist Pain After a Fall

Figure 1. A 15-year-old boy presents with wrist pain and swelling following a fall onto his outstretched hand. He reports that he slipped on a patch of ice and broke his fall by putting his hand forward. View the image taken and consider your next steps, along with possible diagnoses.

Research Report: Consumer-Centric Healthcare Favors Urgent Care

A trend toward high-deductible health plans and new technologies that ease access are pushing consumers to demand more from healthcare encounters, according to a new research report from CBInsights. This is evidenced by the growing popularity of “wearable” health-tracking devices and telemedicine services, but also in the number of patients who continue to flock to urgent care centers, according to the report. That, in turn, makes the industry attractive to private-equity investors, who “see opportunities …

Anthem ED Policy is Starting to Rankle Patients

When Anthem announced some months ago it would not cover bills for “unnecessary” (in their retrospective view) trips to the emergency room in some states, we noted objections from physician groups. Now that the policy is in place and claims for 2018 have started to be filed, we’re seeing media reports on angry patients who are getting stuck with bills they presumed would be covered. Consumer Reports, for one, recounts the case of a patient …