Practice Management
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, …
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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 …
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A clinic in Tucson, AZ is trying to take the convenience factor of urgent care to the next level by offering patients access to specialists on site. Urgent Specialists is the first in the state to have board-certified specialists in ophthalmology, orthopedics, and otolaryngology on staff—removing the need to immediately refer patients whose symptoms may be a bit more complicated than is typically seen in the urgent care setting. As with all urgent care centers, …
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The Urgent Care Association (UCA) is partnering with George Washington University’s Antibiotic Resistance Action Center on an initiative to put the brakes on runaway antibiotic resistance. The goal of the 3-year plan is to develop and implement evidence-based practices aimed at preserving the effectiveness of the antibiotics we have available today, namely by promoting responsible use of antibiotics. The fact that urgent care centers see some 160 million patients annually make it the perfect setting …
Read MoreThe Urgent Care Association (UCA) has officially filed comments with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), supporting a proposal to modify the “24/7” access requirements for providers who plan to bill Medicare for Chronic Care Management (CCM) codes. According to UCA, the new language will allow primary care providers “to more easily meet the CCM billing requirements if they contract with urgent care centers for their patient’s acute care needs, including evenings and …
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The path to ongoing growth in the urgent care industry is paved with the dollars it saves payers and patients, according to MedExpress Chief Medical Officer Thomas Pangburn, MD. While insurers would likely disagree, Pangburn says that includes the advent of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”). Here’s some of the rationale he shared with the Pittsburgh Tribune Review : “With the Affordable Care Act and changes in the healthcare system, more and more …
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A public–private partnership that supports ambulance transport to urgent care centers when clinically appropriate just got new life in Reno, NV. It’s a cooperative effort between Reno’s Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority and Renown Health, launched in 2012 with the help of $9.8 million from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Healthcare Innovation Award program. That grant ran out, but Renown says it will continue to support the program because of the cost savings …
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On the surface, it sounds like a great way to see children getting the care they need as soon as possible. However, questions abound about the feasibility of a new program that gives students in Greene County (Tennessee) Schools access to virtual urgent care under a partnership between Niswonger Children’s Hospital and First Assist Urgent Care. Basically, the Niswonger Virtual Health Clinic offers students online access to doctors and nurse practitioners within their school nurse’s …
Read MoreThe Urgent Care Association (UCA) has outlined a framework by which it plans to guide urgent care centers to reduce inappropriate outpatient antibiotic, with an ultimate goal to curb the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. UCA’s statement notes that with urgent care clinicians treating some 160 million patients annually—many of whom think they may need an antibiotic—this setting is in a strong position to effect positive change. “UCA recognizes the vitally important role our clinicians …
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The Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”) is driving higher volume in the emergency room at the same time it creates conditions resulting in lower availability of providers, according to a pair of new studies published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine. The end result: longer waits that frustrate patients and a patient load that clinicians may be hard pressed to keep pace with. While the studies were focused on Illinois and Massachusetts, the results …
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