Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Legalized Pot Complicates Workplace Drug Testing Policies

Marijuana is now legal in 28 states in one form or another, but that doesn’t mean employers are obliged to soften their stance on employees’ use. How this could affect urgent care centers that offer drug screenings as part of their occupational medicine services is unclear—as is the ability of employers to bar employees from partaking. Some legal experts have asserted that companies could put themselves at risk if they fire employees for a positive …

Panel Sees Need for More Workplace Health Professionals—Including Non Physicians

Urgent care providers who offer occupational medicine services may be able to lower their payrolls while increasing revenue though new business, if a new report from the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health is any indication. The panel convened to examine what steps federal workplace safety agencies can take to encourage more students (or even people looking for a career change) to go into workplace health and safety. It concluded that more employers …

Positive Drugs Tests Have Soared Among Workers in the Past Decade

It will probably come as no surprise to urgent care providers who offer occupational medicine services, but the percentage of U.S. workers who’ve tested positive for drugs has increased steadily over the past 3 years—to the point that they’re now at a 10-year peak. The Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index, which analyzes millions of urine samples, oral fluid samples, and hair samples annually, shows 5 consecutive years of increased positive tests for amphetamine and heroin, …

On-site Clinics: Not Just for Big Business Anymore

On-site medical facilities are common in manufacturing operations and even some larger corporate offices. However, smaller businesses are starting to look at skyrocketing healthcare costs and realizing there may be real benefits in having a provider on the premises, as well. One car dealership in Albuquerque, NM has seen its health costs and absenteeism go down since bringing in a provider to check out workers who aren’t feeling well, administer flu shots, and help employees …

UCA Lobbies for Driver Sleep Apnea Screening

The Urgent Care Association (UCA) has filed comments with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), supporting annual screening of transportation workers diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). UCA’s position is in agreement with the FMCSA’s and the Medical Review Board’s contention that a driver with OSA should be recertified annually, regardless of whether he or she is undergoing treatment for the condition. Drivers who do say they’re being treated would have to demonstrate compliance …

Why an Arizona Measles Outbreak is an Occupational Medicine Concern

Arizona is home to the largest measles outbreak in the U.S., currently. That by itself does not warrant headlines, but health officials there have traced all 22 cases since May to a single detention center. The importance to urgent care operators—especially those that provide occupational health services—is that the outbreak is blamed, in part, one the refusal of some workers at the Eloy Detention Center to get vaccinated. Detainees there have all been vaccinated at …

Blue Cross Stakes a Claim in Urgent Care Startup

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota sees a bright future for Livio Health Group, a new company that offers in-home urgent care and primary care services—so much so that it has invested an undisclosed amount to help the St. Paul, MN company increase its market presence. Livio sends clinicians to homes and other facilities to treat injuries and acute illness but also to help patients manage chronic conditions and offer diagnostic testing and preventative …

New OSHA Initiative Seeks to Ease Reporting—of Injury and Violations

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) is launching a new program that aims to simplify reporting of work-related illness and injury, as well as offer more protection for whistleblowers. Most relevant to urgent care operators who provide occupational health services, OSHA will require all work-related injuries and illness to be reported through a new database as of January 1, 2017. The same level of information will still have to be filed annually, but the …

New York Occ Med Providers May See More DOT Physicals

The market for conducting Department of Transportation physicals just got a bit more urgent care-friendly in New York. As of June 1, chiropractors are no longer allowed to give DOT physicals for commercial motor vehicle drivers—giving urgent care operators that offer such services a leg up on expanding their occupational medicine business. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration contends that DOT physicals are outside a chiropractor’s scope of practice. Chiropractors are already lobbying to have …

Occ Med Providers: Test for Illegal Drugs in Workers on Opioids for Chronic Pain

Urgent care operators who offer occupational medication services are advised to be on the lookout for illegal drugs when testing workers who take opioid medications for chronic pain. A new report from Ameritox Ltd. indicates that 10.4% of patients who are prescribed opioids to treat chronic pain test positive for at least one illicit drug. Marijuana was the drug identified most often, followed by cocaine, heroin, 3,4 methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA, better known as Ecstasy or Molly) …