Practice Management
At the end of the year, more than 180,000 Google employees will no longer have the perk of One Medical primary care membership when the contract between Google and Amazon, the clinics’ parent company, ends, according to Healthcare Dive. Whether the action has anything to do with the recent questions about One Medical’s call center triage is anyone’s guess. Google was One Medical’s largest employer client. At one time, some Google offices featured on-site One …
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At least 39 healthcare providers and the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) are suing UnitedHealth Group over the Change Healthcare hack, claiming they have not financially recovered from the ransomware attack that took place in February. UnitedHealth Group’s CEO in an earnings call said the company was “a little over-optimistic” about how quickly business would return to normal. The company’s IT systems are mostly restored, but the company is still catching up on the claims …
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Humana is set to lease clinical space in Walmart Supercenter stores in 4 states, according to reports from Healthcare Dive. Twenty-three CenterWell Senior Primary Care and Conviva Care Centers clinics in Florida, Georgia, Missouri, and Texas will be ready to deliver care to seniors by the middle of next year. Insurance giant Humana—with its focus on Medicare Advantage—already operates 300 primary care centers in 15 states. Profit power push: Humana is one of many organizations …
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Last week’s CrowdStrike software crash left some health systems in emergency downtime situations, while others ended up delaying patients’ medical procedures, according to Healthcare Dive. The crash has been characterized in Becker’s as “worse than a cyberattack.” The American Hospital Association also said: “These disruptions are resulting in some clinical procedure delays, diversions, or cancellations. Impact is also being felt indirectly as a result of local emergency call centers being down.” Some scheduling, check-in, and …
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has sent a 9-member team of epidemiologists, veterinarians, and clinicians, plus an industrial hygienist, to Colorado to assist with managing a bird flu outbreak affecting both humans and poultry, according to the agency. Colorado reported 4 confirmed human cases of the infection and a possible 5th case earlier this week. As part of the ongoing evaluation, additional samples are being tested with the anticipation of additional cases …
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Healthcare leaders in eastern Massachusetts have agreed to a 90-day collaborative initiative to address the expected surge in local emergency department visits this summer, according to NBC Boston. Plans call for directing more patients to urgent care facilities when appropriate. Last week, the state department of insurance issued a memo detailing plans for insurers and urgent care providers aimed at managing the “typically high” volume of emergency room visits from July 3 to October 1. …
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How free-standing emergency departments (EDs) present themselves to the community continues to cause confusion for patients, ultimately leading to unexpectedly higher medical bills and negative overall experiences. Some free-standing EDs have the term “urgent care” in their name, which many believe is misleading. And now there is at least one effort to investigate a class action lawsuit for patients who accessed what they believed was urgent care—based on the facility’s sign out front—only to find …
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a health advisory this week related to a significant increase in dengue fever cases in the United States, according to NBC News. There have been 2,241 reported cases across the country this year so far, compared to the recorded 3,036 cases from all of 2023. More than 1,498 dengue fever cases occurred in Puerto Rico, where a public health emergency was declared in March. Globally, the …
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Many Americans lack information about sexually transmitted infections (STIs), a new University of Pennsylvania Annenberg Public Policy Center survey shows. Just over half of survey respondents (54%) know that syphilis can be cured, however, 84% incorrectly believe that a vaccine is available. As many as 30% don’t know the signs and symptoms of syphilis, including sores, swollen lymph nodes, fever, etc., but 77% know that using a condom could protect them. The incorrect responses are …
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One Medical is under fire for failing to prioritize some patients who had symptoms that should have received immediate attention. The crux of the problem is that the virtual and in-person primary care provider—now owned by Amazon as a result of a $3.9 billion deal from February 2023—routes patients to a call center that is staffed in part by contractors with limited training, according to the Washington Post. The news outlet cites leaked documents that …
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