Practice Management
When we last updated you on the measles outbreak in the United States, there were 465 cases spread across 19 states. At the time, that was the highest number of U.S. cases since 2000, when measles was declared “eliminated.” Well, the number of cases now sits at 839—a jump of 374 cases—in 23 states, all diagnosed between January 1 and May 10 of this year. One challenge: The potential to contract measles isn’t limited to …
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As we told you last month, the private equity firm Warburg Pincus had big plans to merge DocuTAP and Practice Velocity, the two leading technology and services companies serving the urgent care marketplace. That goal has now been realized in the form of Experity, whose mission will be to continue to support and invest in all the current software platforms and services previously provided by the merging companies while offering customers—some 4,000 clinics across the …
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Social media platforms can be more than a treasure trove of baby pictures, cat videos, and inflammatory political rhetoric. Some urgent care physicians have become adept at utilizing their features for the good of their patients, their practices, and even their careers. Tyeese L. Gaines, DO, MBA is one. The founder of NOWMed Urgent Care in Jersey City, NJ was quoted extensively in a recent post on the AMA’s website, detailing how Facebook, Twitter, and …
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A bipartisan collective of legislators wants to put forth a bill in Congress to streamline the prior authorization process in order to facilitate faster, lower-cost care. Since those are the same key attributes that continue to fuel the growth of urgent care, on the surface it might sound like the bill could boost our industry. Not so fast. According to congressional staff working behind the scenes, as quoted in an article published by MedPage Today, …
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For the first time ever in the United States, the number of physicians who are employed by someone else is greater than the number of self-employed physicians, according to new data from the American Medical Association. Overall, 47% of all physicians were employees in 2018, up 6% since the last time the AMA did similar research in 2012—compared with 46% who described themselves as “self-employed” in a clinical setting. It’s part of an overall trend …
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Parts of the South and Midwest are fighting to recover from severe storms that brought tornadoes, flooding, death, and destruction recently. And for every displaced family there is a team of first responders working tirelessly to help their communities pick up the pieces. Unfortunately, they can continue to be high risk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that flood waters can carry human, animal, medical, industrial, and household waste. Exposure can cause wound …
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The comingling of urgent care and insurance has become so common that it scarcely raises headlines at this point. A new initiative involving GoHealth Urgent Care is a bit different, however. The company is teaming up with Force Diagnostics , a clinical underwriting data services company, to offer expedited physical exams for life insurance applicants. Currently, the standard practice when an individual applies for a life insurance policy is for a healthcare provider to be …
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We told you about a study that asked patients to weigh in on their preferences for how healthcare providers should dress. The choices ranged from office-casual to traditional business attire to the clinical white coat with a tie, or with a dress shirt for women. White-coat-and-tie or dress shirt proved to be the preferred attire because it conveyed both business formality and clinical authority. An article just published in The New York Times has now …
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The growing authority—and employment—of physician assistants and nurse practitioners in many practice settings demonstrates the practical need for high-level clinicians who cost less to employ than physicians. You can engage more of them than you can physicians, per dollar. That helps the operation run more smoothly without breaking the bank, theoretically. As PAs and NPs, known collectively as advanced-practice providers (APPs), grow in stature, however, a movement is afoot to free them from the bonds …
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Working with healthcare giant Sanitas USA, Blue Cross Blue Shield (BC/BS) plans in numerous states are opening up primary care clinics that further complicate the competitive landscape occupied by urgent care, retail clinics, hospital systems, and traditional medical practices. The partnership already operates such practices in several markets in Florida and New Jersey, both of which may be expanding. Next on the horizon are plans to work with Health Care Services Corp., which owns BC/BS …
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