Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

New Report Sees Urgent Care Market Growing to $30.5 Billion by 2020

Add Transparency Market Research to the growing list of research organizations that see major growth continuing in the global urgent care market. Using 2013’s figure of $23.5 billion as a baseline, the report projects 30% growth by 2020—making for a market value of $30.5. Urgent Care Centers Market—Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2014–2020 cites the growing ranks of senior citizens and concerns over finding cost-effective care, combined with traditional urgent care …

Survey: ‘New Front Door to Healthcare’ is Opening Wider

Alternative sites of care—the proverbial “new front door to healthcare”—are being considered acceptable to a greater number and wider range of patients as time goes on, according to a new survey by Oliver Wyman’s Health & Life Science Practice. For purposes of the survey, those “alternative” sites include urgent care, retails clinics, and telehealth. While the benefits to the patient—greater access and power to make decisions—are self-evident, Oliver Wyman estimates at least $200 billion is …

Doctors Urge Florida to Reverse Course and Squelch Aetna–Humana Merger

Florida’s insurance regulators have already given their blessing, but three physician groups are asking the state’s attorney general to put the kibosh on the proposed merger between Aetna Inc. and Humana, Inc. The American Medical Association, Florida Medical Association, and Florida Osteopathic Medical Association all say the merger would reduce competition to such an extent that healthcare access, quality, and affordability would suffer across the state. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation approved the deal …

Study: ACA Fails to Slow ED Visits, But Urgent Care Use Also On the Rise

One of the selling points of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as Obamacare) was that it would save health dollars by diverting newly insured patients away from the emergency room toward primary care physicians. Instead, ED use has continued to grow. The issue, according to Robert Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis at Harvard’s School of Public Health, is the same as it’s always been, regardless of an individual’s insurance status: …

Army Telemedicine Pilot Aims to Reduce Traffic in the ED

Telemedicine will be at the center of a pilot program the U.S. Army launched this month, aiming to keep nonemergent cases from clogging up the emergency room. Patients who need immediate—but not emergency—care will be redirected virtually from the Blanchfield Army Community Hospital (BACH) in Fort Campbell KY to an army medical center some 445 miles away. Once screened at BACH, patients will be either see an emergency physician or be directed to an onsite …

Teleradiology Specialists Hits Record Speed and Volume in Urgent Care

Teleradiology Specialists, which set its sights on the urgent care market early on, predicts a rapid increase in volume and market share on the heels of completing a record number of reads last month. The company completed 40% more reads compared with January of last year. At least some of the growth was fueled by adding 52 locations to the facilities for which it provides over-read, PACS technology, and consulting services. Urgent care is a …

What Will ACA Provisions Mean for Urgent Care in 2016?

Some urgent care operators may be starting the new year with old worries about what the Affordable Care Act, known alternately as ACA or Obamacare, means for their centers. More specifically, there is concern that the shift away from PPO, in which patients can choose any provider in their network, to more rigid HMOs—many of which require patients to have preauthorization/referral to use urgent care or pay increased steerage—could hurt the industry. Where optimists hoped …

ACEP: Don’t Blame Physicians if Patient Costs for Out-of-Network ED Visits Go Up

If patients start paying more for visiting out-of-network emergency rooms, the American College of Emergency Physicians suggests it will be the government’s fault, not physicians’ or hospitals’. ACEP joined with the Emergency Department Practice Management Association in crafting a response to a new federal rule that would bar insurers from charging plan members higher copayments when they visit out-of-network EDs. That law does not prohibit doctors and hospitals from “balance billing” consumers if the insurers …

More Urgent Care Options = Lower ED Use in Massachusetts

As the number of urgent care facilities and retail clinics goes up, visits to the emergency room go down, according to the 2015 Cost Trends Report from the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission. The number of urgent care facilities in the commonwealth grew eightfold between 2008 and 2015, the report says. The report noted a 30 percent drop in ED use when there’s a “convenient care” facility nearby. Meanwhile, the Center for Health Information and Analysis …

New Study: EDs Need to Step Up Their Game to Stem Overcrowding

There are new data supporting the belief that emergency rooms are not doing enough to stem overcrowding—a longstanding rationale for visiting an urgent care center for nonemergent complaints. A new study published in Health Affairs says that while more hospitals are adopting interventions to prevent overcrowding (eg, bedside registration, scheduling elective surgeries on weekends), far too many are not doing enough. Researchers from Albany Medical College, George Washington University, and Harvard Medical School report that …