Practice Management
You know the numbers—some 23,000 American die every year from drug-resistant infections, painting a clear but ugly picture of the effects of inappropriate use of antibiotics. You probably also know, fundamentally, that reducing the number of prescriptions written will help reduce that risk. The question of how to do so is a bit more challenging, especially now that cold and flu season is upon us and driving herds of antibiotic-seeking patients to your facility. Aware …
Read More
Two-thirds of pregnant women in the United States are leaving themselves at risk for influenza, tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis by declining to get the necessary vaccinations, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Obviously, that also puts their unborn children at risk, ratcheting up the urgency to help them understand that both the flu shot and the Tdap vaccines are not only safe but necessary for their own protection. It’s …
Read More
Unfortunately, many patients become unknowing conduits to illicit use of prescription drugs, consequent addiction, and sometimes even death. They receive an appropriate prescription for, say, an opioid pain medication that they take responsibly for as long as necessary. Then they put the remaining pills back in the medicine cabinet, where anyone in the house can get hold of them and take them recreationally or to feed an addiction. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration created the …
Read More
It’s widely believed that the number of flu deaths is much higher than data would lead us to believe each year, due to the fact that cause of death is often attributed to complications from flu. One of the main culprits is community-acquired pneumonia. So, for the first time in more than 10 years, the Infectious Diseases Society of America has updated its guidelines on treating CAP. The take-home message is that adults who test …
Read More
Numerous urgent care centers have dabbled in mental health urgent care over the years, to little positive effect in terms of patient volume or revenue. Times—and marketplaces—change, however. In rural areas, especially, where both medical and mental health providers can be few and far between, the idea of offering a broader array of services that include counseling might work. At least one urgent care operator is making a serious effort to find out if that’s …
Read More
An Alabama urgent care center learned the hardest possible way that it’s a mistake to assume a young, healthy-appearing patient wouldn’t have a life-threatening condition in spite of worsening symptoms. The patient in question was a 20-year-old college student who first presented with shortness of breath, chest pain, headache, and sore throat. The diagnosis reached that day was bronchitis, for which she received a prescription for an antibiotic and advice to return if her symptoms …
Read More
Walgreens is shutting down nearly half of its in-store clinics due to stronger-than-anticipated competition, such as from the still-growing urgent care sector, and will instead start focusing more on telehealth services. The 200 retail locations that will remain open will mostly be those run through healthcare partnerships and focus more on complex and chronic health conditions like asthma, as opposed to immediate care. According to a recent post from mHealth Intelligence, Walgreens’ decision is part …
Read More
Visits to Zoom+Care locations are growing at a double-digit pace in both the Seattle and Portland markets, prompting the company to hire over a hundred new workers in order to meet the increased demand. How do we know this? The good news was called out in the Portland Business Journal recently, after which that article was blasted out via social media by Zoom+Care itself—for thousands of prospective patients and business leaders to see. The growth …
Read More
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission’s unanimous recommendation that Congress do away with “incident-to” billing could have a strong effect on physician assistants and nurse practitioners—and therefore, considering the growing role PAs and NPs play in this setting, on urgent care overall. If incident-to billing is eliminated, PAs and NPs will have to bill independently and at a lower reimbursement rate than they do now. Currently, the services of PAs and NPs who are truly assisting …
Read More
A new GoHealth Urgent Care-supported study by The Health Management Academy indicates that 74% of leading health systems are likely to expand their urgent care presence over the next 5 years, though only 11% say they’re “thriving” in urgent care at this point. (For purposes of the survey, “leading health systems” include the top 25 U.S. health systems based on net patient revenue per health system.) According to Thriving in the Urgent Care Market: The …
Read More