Practice Management
According to a report from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), new projections indicate a continued shortage of physicians in the next 10 to 15 years, although the shortage is expected to be less than previously forecasted. AAMC predicts a shortfall of 13,500 to 86,000 physicians by 2036, with demand for physician services continuing to outpace the supply of working clinicians. By comparison, the 2021 report projected a shortfall of up to 124,000 physicians …
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A recent article in Physicians Practice by Benjamin Barlow, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Experity, summarizes the shifting market position for urgent care (UC). Barlow notes how during the pandemic era, UC clinics stepped up with flexibility and efficiency to deliver SARS-CoV-1 tests at scale. However, after a time, relying on that approach became short-sighted, leading to many clinics shifting away from fundamental urgent care capabilities. Now they must restore balance that is long overdue …
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Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) has launched a new virtual urgent care service specifically for children and young adults up to 21 years old who need after-hours medical attention for non-emergency conditions, according to MobiHealth News. The platform connects patients with CHLA healthcare providers for presentations such as fever, respiratory infections, vomiting, minor eye issues, allergies, bruises, cuts and scrapes. The telehealth providers can offer discharge instructions, send prescriptions to pharmacies, and recommend a referral …
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Last week, the Food and Drug Administration approved the medication sotatercept, which traps activins that cause constriction of arteries in the lungs, leading to pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Sotatercept targets a growth factor that is overproduced in PAH, reducing the risk of blood vessel thickening. The population with PAH is relatively small—diagnosed in 500 to 1,000 Americans annually and disproportionately affecting women between the ages of 30 and 60, according to the American Lung Association. …
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A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests that simultaneously test for multiple causes of a rash may show false positives for measles in children who recently had a dose of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine. About approximately 5% of kids experience a rash 7–10 days after the MMR shot. A study of 1,548 syndromic PCR panels from the Tennessee Department of Health found 14 children …
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The share of the procedures provided in urgent care (UC) centers submitted on commercial insurance claims grew 207% from 2013 to 2022, according to an in-depth index report from nonprofit claims-data analysis organization FAIR Health. Teasing out single-year growth, utilization of urgent care centers increased 43% from 2021 to 2022. Growth of these “claim lines”—essentially individual procedures listed on insurance claims—echoes the robust growth in the number of urgent care clinics serving the nation overall, …
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Here at the Urgent Care Association (UCA), we often used to ask ourselves, “Is this a UCA thing or a College thing or a Foundation thing?” Over the past few years of talking to all of you, I learned that we were not the only ones asking this question. When you build a house, over the years, you may add on a fantastic new sunroom, then an expansive extra bedroom, and then maybe you remodel …
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The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) earlier this week posted a letter to healthcare providers acknowledging their cash flow disruptions resulting from the Change Healthcare cyberattack that crippled mission-critical eligibility and claims processes nationwide. Providers were collectively losing as much as $1 billion a day for several weeks while they waited for Change to rebuild and relaunch its systems, according to a report from Axios. HHS officials also offered a practical resource guide …
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Walgreens recently completed the sale of 11 VillageMD clinics in Rhode Island to Arches Medical Partners (AMP), based in Boston. The sale is part of Walgreens’ broader initiative to boost profitability by divesting VillageMD primary care locations, following a period of weak fourth-quarter earnings in 2023. This week, the company announced 160 VillageMD clinics have been slated for closure—100 more than previously announced. The company recently exited the Florida market entirely and this week announced …
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The potential for greater spread of harmful pathogens is yet another negative aspect of climate change that should be examined closely, according to infectious diseases experts in a recent JAMA article. Atmospheric changes are driving alterations in pathogens and parasites as temperatures rise and weather extremes persist, including severe heat, droughts, and wildfires. Authors found recent rises in vector-borne, zoonotic, fungal, and waterborne diseases they believe are the result of climate change. Conditions such as …
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