Practice Management
Not long ago, LabCorp started offering consumers the opportunity to order and administer some 90 different lab tests for themselves. Now comes word that Amazon is looking for a way to get into the home diagnostics business; according to CNBC, the company recently tried, but failed, to acquire a diagnostic start-up called Confer Health. Given Amazon’s ability to reach patients at home 24 hours a day, it stands to reason that a successful entry into …
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With the advent of holiday cheer and office parties comes the resurgence of cold-weather injuries, many of which will present to urgent care centers. In addition to ensuring staff and inventories are suitably prepared, some urgent care operators are also reaching out to the public with advice on avoiding injury—but also with the subtle message that their clinic is prepared to treat them at a moment’s notice. American Family Care, for example, got news stories …
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Piedmont Urgent Care by WellStreet and Summit Urgent Care have gotten together in a merger that creates the largest urgent care network, by patient visits, in the state of Georgia. The move diversifies the geographic areas for both companies; where Summit’s locations have been primarily in suburbs surrounding the city, Piedmont’s clinics are spread throughout more urban Atlanta neighborhoods. The ability to reach patients in both types of neighborhoods could give the newly formed operation …
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Deaths attributed to e-cigarette, or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) have started rising so fast that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is updating figures weekly. The latest figures, from December 10, note 2,291 cases in which patients have had to be hospitalized across all 50 states plus Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Fifty-two people in the U.S. have died across 26 states and the District of Columbia. The stereotypical image …
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A study newly published in BMJ reaffirms that too many inappropriate prescriptions for antibiotics are being written, especially during influenza season. It also reflects some ambiguity in prescribers’ reporting habits, however, and offers some insights into which drugs are being prescribed the most. The authors found that 25% of antibiotic prescriptions are written for “inappropriate” reasons, and that 18% reflect cases in which documentation was insufficient to determine whether a prescription was appropriate or not. …
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Conventional wisdom has it that woman and men experience symptoms of heart attack in different ways. As is often the case in life, however, the conventional wisdom may have it all wrong. According to a study just published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, men and woman may actually experience heart attacks in the same ways—information that’s essential for you to know the next time a patient presents while experiencing a possible MI. …
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The headline in quotes above actually appeared in Colorado’s Sky-Hi News this week, reflecting a self-assessed trend at Denver Health’s Winter Park Medical Center. The facility opened its own urgent care location almost a year ago, with the notion that the move might help alleviate crowding in its emergency room. Being at the base of a ski resort, however, they’ve seen more volume than a standard business model might predict; more predictably, they’ve found that …
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In an ordinary year, this would be early to start recognizing trends in the influenza season. Sadly, this is not an ordinary year, however, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says an early start to flu season is hitting more of the most vulnerable patients than ever. Numbers are up across the board, but those over age 64 and under age 4 are being afflicted disproportionately at this point (3.6 cases per 100,000 …
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The good news is that HIV no longer equates to a death sentence. The bad news is that its status as a treatable disease has caused many people to stop paying attention to it altogether—to the extent that they no longer see the need for prevention and testing. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 14% of people with HIV were unaware they had it until it was discovered secondary to …
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Among the key points in the healthcare bill introduced by Massachusetts Governor Charles Baker are efforts to settle on a core definition of urgent care, but also steps to require urgent care centers to be “licensed” by the state and provide mental health services, meet certain primary care standards, and accept MassHealth members. Those elements of the bill, H. 4134, are a nod to the growing influence of urgent care (and retail clinics) in Massachusetts, …
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