Practice Management
A study by West Virginia University has shown that urgent care not only has great potential to improve the chance for positive health outcomes in rural areas, but also holds great promise for operators who are willing to make the investment in the country. Joshua Hall, associate professor of economics and director of the Center for Free Enterprise at WVU’s College of Business and Economics, led a team of researchers who considered the entry of …
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Trying to relocate nonemergent patients from overcrowded emergency rooms to clinics and urgent care centers by ambulance led to out-of-control costs in the San Diego area. In addition, it’s been shown that some 30% of people who call 911 for an ambulance didn’t even need emergent care to begin with. So, health officials hit on the idea of calling a taxi or an Uber to take patients where they need to be. The question is, …
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Essential Health says it went to great lengths to make sure employees had time to get their flu shots or apply for an opt-out on medical, religious, or philosophical grounds. It also tried to make it as easy as possible by offering multiple, free vaccine clinics, sending vaccine carts around so workers wouldn’t even have to leave their post. It provided ample incentive, too, notifying workers that if they did not get vaccinated (or an …
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It’s a strange phenomenon, but there are data to back it up: The emergency room at St. Charles Bend in Bend, OR is getting more traffic—it’s just not necessarily treating more patients. Nearly 5% of the people who check in to the ED leave without being seen (LWBS) because the wait is simply too long. That’s nearly three times the national average. The Bulletin newspaper in Bend noted that LWBS was the most common diagnosis …
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Just a week ago, we shared data from TMR Research indicating that the urgent care industry would continue its upward trajectory for years to come. Now another report, this one from Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE), offers even more data corroborating those findings. Urgent Care Centers Market—Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2014–2020 analyzes the potential for growth in specific aspects of the urgent care industry, such as illness, injury, physical, …
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Las Vegas is the latest municipality to recognize that not all 911 calls require response with a fully equipped ambulance and EMS crew. As part of a new pilot program by the Las Vegas Fire and Rescue Department, 911 operators are being trained to identify which calls really do require a full emergency response, and which could be transferred to a specially trained nurse who can guide the patient to the right level of care—including …
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Urgent care centers in hurricane-affected areas have probably gotten into the habit of looking for sudden respiratory ailments and signs of illness related to consumption of tainted water or food. However, the vast numbers of relief workers and volunteers who flocked to help residents affected by the recent storms are now returning home, where providers may not have such issues at the top of their minds. Recognizing that, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention …
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Despite efforts to teach patients when they really need to go to the emergency room vs the urgent care center or other settings, TennCare reports that its members have continued to head straight to the ED for relatively minor complaints—to the tune of $87.9 million in fiscal year 2017. That’s an increase of $3 million over the previous year. Claims data released by the state show too many use the less convenient, costlier ED for …
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As we’ve reported here, the evolving habits of patients who seek immediate, cost-efficient, quality care is forcing hospitals and health systems to reconsider their own approaches to patient engagement. Such is reconfirmed in a Wall Street Journal article that observes “as patients increasingly seek cheaper and more convenient care, some of the largest U.S. hospital operators are investing in surgery centers, emergency rooms, and urgent care clinics.” The article cites Tenet Healthcare Corp., Dignity Health, …
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As telehealth continues to take root as a viable way to administer care, especially for patients in rural areas, a few subsegments are seeing sharper growth than others. Codes for specialty telehealth (which includes inpatient and outpatient care, ED visits, and postacute care consults) for Medicare beneficiaries were applied 191,000 times in 2015, according to new data from Advisory Board. In addition, the volume of telebehavioral health services provided grew 16-fold between 2012 and 2013, …
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