Practice Management
After an outright cure for or a vaccine to prevent COVID-19, the Holy Grail of the pandemic is a reliable method of testing patients who may have been infected. A new study out of the University of Insubria, Varese, Italy shows that testing saliva could be as reliable as anything else. Researchers got positive tests from their first salivary swab in all 25 patients who took part. Interestingly, two of those patients had negative pharyngeal …
Read More
Even urgent care providers who have not been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus are feeling the ill effects of the pandemic. According to a new article in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (subscription required), clinicians who are working longer-than-usual shifts or working shifts out of their normal routine (such as filling in on an overnight emergency room shift or taking on 12-hour telemedicine stretches) are more prone to poor or insufficient sleep and increased …
Read More
We’ve all been operating under the guidance that 6 feet could be considered relatively “safe” distancing between individuals in order to slow the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, new data from Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan, China indicate that the transmission distance might be twice that or more—at least 4 meters, or 13.1 feet-plus according to a study of air samples there. The researchers based their findings on swab samples from the intensive care unit …
Read More
In spite of a nearly constant flow of information from mainstream media, federal officials, and local health departments, some individuals continue to dismiss the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic because “more people die of the flu every year.” Unfortunately, that belief is starting to be disproven in some parts of the U.S. Indiana, for one, confirmed that its death rate due to COVID-19 in just a 4-week period exceeded the state’s 5-year average for annual …
Read More
In line with recent efforts by retail drugstores to bulk up primary care-type offerings, Walgreens plans to open 15 drive-thru COVID-19 testing locations in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Texas. The company says it chose locations after consulting with the Department of Health and Human Services on areas where the virus is on the rise. The move comes weeks after Walgreens, CVS Health, Target, and Walmart joined President Trump to discuss how retailers …
Read More
The Urgent Care Association may have been forced to cancel its annual convention due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has repurposed the time and energy that would have gone in that direction to produce a range of support materials for its constituency. On the business side, UCA asked its policy consultant, Camille Bonta, MHS to share a summary of recent legislation and regulatory changes that could be helpful to urgent care centers; Staying Afloat …
Read More
The challenge of keeping patients who could be highly contagious with a potentially deadly infection out of your facility, while still providing care for them is one of the greatest challenges facing many urgent care facilities during the COVID-19 crisis. Some who never saw the utility of telehealth are now using it as a screening tool, however. One Chicago-based ER doc who is also heavily involved in urgent care has pulled several 12-hour telehealth shifts …
Read More
It seems paradoxical at first thought, but one of the unforeseen consequences of the COVID-19 crisis is that some healthcare providers—certainly high on the list of “essential workers”—may see their jobs adversely affected by the pandemic. As noted in a post on Inside Sources, emergency rooms are emptying out as hospitals reroute patients presenting with symptoms or even concerns related to the virus to other areas of the hospital. Many other patients are opting not …
Read More
The “normal” way of doing things is no longer possible for urgent care operators during the COVID-19 crisis. Many around the country are looking at ways they can continue to serve their communities and keep their workers engaged while others are opting to close or consolidate locations. Prevea Health in the Green Bay, WI area, for example, is letting the community know that one of its locations is now dedicated exclusively to patients with upper …
Read More
When President Trump declared a national state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services instituted changes in their licensure requirements, as detailed in the COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Health Care Providers Fact Sheet. While CMS is deferring to individual states on specifics—including on all staff licensure, certification, or registration—the agency is waving many requirements in order to allow healthcare facilities the freedom to make decisions based on the conditions …
Read More