Practice Management
I do most of my banking online and through the ATM. Recently, though, I needed to conduct business in person at a JPMorganChase branch. I knew the branch closed at 6:00 pm so I broke away from the office, dodged North Dallas traffic, and rushed into the branch at 5:58 pm, sliding in just before they locked the doors. Or did I? When the manager saw me she asked, “Did you rush to get here?” …
Read More
Despite data proving that many emergency rooms are overcrowded, patient volume is down in U.S. hospitals overall, forcing administrators to consider novel business strategies, according to a new report from Frost & Sullivan Transformational Health Team. Basically, patients are looking for outpatient, minimally invasive care—and finding it with “ambulatory care” providers in urgent care clinics, ambulatory surgical centers, and retail locations. Hospitals are responding by considering partnerships and collaborations with such providers. Transformation of the …
Read More
The laws of supply-and-demand have taken a liking to physicians just entering the work force—and the bounty seems especially rich in urgent care. We told you recently that physician shortages have some states offering incentives to draw newly minted docs to their neighborhoods. Now the 2016 Review of Physician and Advanced Practitioner Recruiting Incentives reveals that “starting salaries for both primary care and specialist physicians spiked in the last 12 months.” Of particular interest, urgent …
Read More
There’s a “new, critical stakeholder” with a voice in discussions about healthcare costs—and it’s someone urgent care operators know as well as anyone. A new report from InstaMed says 74% of patients had to pay a bigger share of their healthcare costs in 2015, prompting revenue cycle analysts to look at them more closely as actual “consumers” of services. “Both payers and providers will be challenged to overhaul their payment processes or face lost revenue …
Read More
American Family Care is putting all its clinics in the proverbial urgent care basket; the company’s 160+ locations, currently flying the AFC Doctors Express banner, will be rebranded under the name AFC Urgent Care. A new logo will come along with the name, but the locations will retain the same doctors and other staff, offer the same hours, accept the same insurance plans, and maintain current copays. Each will also continue to operate under local …
Read More
A new study by FAIR Health says too many busy millennials (defined by Pew Research as those who turned ages 15–34 in 2015) turn to WebMD or “Dr. Google” instead of checking in with a physician when they need medical care. While that’s bad news for providers in every setting—not to mention those patients—the good news for urgent care is that when they do commit to an in-person visit, they are more likely to choose …
Read More
A community hospital in California says Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia is punishing it for being out-of-network by paying patients directly for emergency services received at the hospital, rather than reimbursing the hospital. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital is taking the matter to court, charging that the Georgia BCBS plan is trying to pressure the hospital, unfairly, to accept its contract rates. The suit further claims that by paying patients directly, the …
Read More
FastMed Urgent Care has become the biggest urgent care provider in the country to offer patients telemedicine services. The company has partnered with TouchCare to start taking mobile video appointments in North Carolina, via smartphone or tablet. If all goes well there, FastMed plans to offer similar service in Arizona and Texas later this year. The company says it has a distinct advantage over virtual-only services because patients can start with a remote visit but …
Read More
URGENT MESSAGE: Laceration repairs and abscess drainage are two of the most commonly performed procedures in urgent care. Correct coding entails understanding what components are bundled with the surgical procedure, documentation of the diagnosis, location and size of the laceration or abscess, and the surgical technique utilized. Sarah Todt, RN, CPC, CEDC, CPMA is Director of Provider Education at LogixHealth. Deborah A. Wilson, RN, CPC, CEDC is Associate Director of Provider Education at LogixHealth. Care …
Read More
A new study by Neilsen Strategic Health Perspectives and the Council of Accountable Physician Practices affirms that outcomes are better when multiple providers who’ve treated the same patient share information. However, it also points out that communication between providers suffers when an urgent care center is outside of a health system. This represents a lost opportunity, as just 38% of physician offices provide access to an urgent cate center through the same medical group. Interestingly, …
Read More