Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

New California Bill Protects Patients from ‘Surprise’ Medical Fees

California residents who have to visit out-of-network medical providers will get much-needed economic protection under a new bill just passed by state legislators. The bipartisan bill, AB72, assures that patients who received care in in-network facilities would have to pay only in-network cost sharing, regardless of whether the provider who treated the patient is in-network or out-of-network. This would not apply to self-insured employer health plans, however, which are shielded from state regulations by the …

HIPAA Turns 20—Is it Time for it to Move Out?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act—better (if not more affectionately) known as HIPAA—was signed into effect in 1996, around the time that the World Wide Web was viewed as the wild frontier. In 2016, the internet is now The Establishment, every citizen of the United States has access to health insurance, and electronic data drive everything from who’s “trending” on Instagram to local, regional, and national expectations of the coming flu season. Even firewalls …

Is ECHO Ready to Go National?

Project ECHO—Extension for Community Health Outcomes—has helped physicians in rural New Mexico connect with specialists their patients would otherwise never be able to see since 2003. Now a pair of out-of-state senators want to see the program become the model for a national system telehealth system. The ECHO Act, cosponsored by Sens. Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Orrin Hatch of Utah, would require the Department of Health and Human Services to work with the Health …

‘Out of State’ Doesn’t Mean You’re Out of Range for Telehealth Patients in Alaska

Alaska is the latest of many states marching toward adoption of new telehealth bills, but legislators there has been typically “maverick” in their approach to adopting such new technologies. The interesting thing about that state’s soon-to-be signed law is that physicians won’t have to be in-state in order to prescribe for Alaskans. In addition to removing in-state presence requirements for prescribing via telemedicine, SB 74 will pave the way for patients to connect with occupational …

Pilot Program Will Have Ambulances Pulling Up to Urgent Care

Louisiana lawmakers have passed a bill that would allow ambulances to deliver patients with non–life-threatening illnesses directly to urgent care centers in East Baton Rouge Parish. Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center has volunteered to accept low-acuity ambulance patients at its 24/7 urgent care facility as part of the pilot program. The legislation is expected to help address poor access to emergency care in the area since one hospital closed and another shut …

Freestanding ER Sticker Shock Still an Issue Despite Transparency Laws

Urgent care operators who face competition from freestanding emergency rooms should emphasize cost differences compared with urgent care, and remind patients that vigilance may be needed to tell the difference between the two. Patients in Texas, for example, are finding that a new law requiring freestanding emergency rooms to post notices that fees may be comparable to a hospital emergency room doesn’t go far enough in preventing surprisingly big bills postcare. One problem: The nature …

Ohio Law Gives PAs More Clinical Authority with Less Physician Oversight

Physician assistants in Ohio now have more authority to make decisions—including more freedom to prescribe drugs—under a new law signed into effect by Gov. John Kasich. While PAs still must work under the supervision of a physician, they have more autonomy when it comes to ordering diagnostics, prescribing or directly providing medications, and administering local anesthesia. While urgent care centers typically have physicians on site most or all of the time, retail clinics like those …

NC: Can’t Wait for Your PCP? ‘Go to the Urgent Care’

With a storm of protest from state workers still ringing in their ears, North Carolina legislators have backed off a plan to eliminate traditional “80/20” insurance (in which plan members pay 20% of healthcare costs until their deductible is met). Instead, they’ll incentivize preventive care by lowering copays for routine medical visits and some prescription drugs in 2017. That could mean higher traffic in primary care practices—and even longer waits to see PCPs in a …

Colorado Bill Would Force Freestanding ERs to Be More Open on Costs

Colorado is considering legislation that would require freestanding emergency rooms to post notices throughout the building alerting patients that they have stepped into an emergency room, where they will be afforded emergency care for emergent medical conditions (and pay emergency-level charges). The bill was inspired by complaints from consumers who have mistakenly sought care in freestanding ERs, thinking they had gone to an urgent care center—where costs are lower and more likely to be covered …

FDA Wants Some Gloves to Take a Powder

The Food and Drug Administration wants to ban most powdered gloves from exam rooms, as well as operating rooms. The ban would apply to powdered surgeon’s gloves, powdered patient examination gloves, and absorbable powder for lubricating a surgeon’s glove. The FDA says the risk that synthetic proteins in the gloves can cause airway inflammation, wound inflammation, and postprocedure adhesions is too great to allow their continued use. If finalized, the ban would force withdrawal of …