Practice Management
There are usually signs when a valued employee is thinking of jumping ship—but that’s not much help if you don’t know to look for the signs. A new post on Advisory Board recommends running through a “red flag checklist” to see if you’re in danger of losing your MVP. Such a checklist would include looking for sudden changes in performance, attendance, the level of interest an employee has in their role, a change in the …
Read More
Providers have very little time with patients (many of whom they’ve never met before, in the case of urgent care), so it can be easy to disregard the importance of the human touch in the service of “efficiency.” Doing so could be a mistake both clinically and in terms of patient satisfaction, however. A recent article in The New York Times recounts the experience of a woman who was comforted throughout a breast cancer scare …
Read More
Just weeks ago, we brought you an exclusive article on How to Deal with a Liar in your urgent care practice. Now comes a post on the website The Hill that looks at lying on a grander scale: The United States healthcare system, in which lies are often generated and promoted in pursuit of short-term financial gain, according to authors Lawton R. burns and Mark V. Pauly. In their opinion piece, the pair reflect on …
Read More
The odds are that the most outrageous concerns patients present with can be easily explained away, and often to the patient’s satisfaction (and relief). That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t look into them, though. Take the tale of a Gila Lyons, a writer who happens to have (and who has written extensively about) anxiety and panic disorders. For some time she experienced ringing in her ears, accompanied by a “prickly tickle” as she described it in …
Read More
Ride-sharing pioneer Uber is putting more resources into serving as a healthcare transport provider, recognizing that traditional taxi companies tend to put little effort into picking up patients who they fear could be high maintenance and low tippers. According to a new post on the website Advisory Board, Uber just hired a pair of experts to help them beef up their efforts in this area—one a healthcare consultant and the other a veteran of competitor …
Read More
Women who have been victims of domestic violence or abuse are more than twice as likely to ask for emergency contraception in a visit to a healthcare provider, according to a new study published in the British Journal of General Practice. The authors say their results are in line with similar research conducted in other countries. While this latest study focused on primary care providers, pharmacists, and sexual health practitioners in the U.K., it stands …
Read More
Despite your best efforts—and those of your colleagues, employers, and the entire U.S. healthcare system—and the highest flu-related death toll in decades last year, many adults have no intention of getting a flu shot this year, according to data just released by NORC (formerly known as the National Opinion Research Center) at the University of Chicago. Nearly 41% of adults surveyed hadn’t been immunized as of mid-November and said they weren’t planning to this year. …
Read More
Advances in telehealth have often been presumed to provide greater access to healthcare for patients in rural communities that may be underserved by healthcare providers. However, a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicates that virtual healthcare visits are actually more popular with residents of urban areas. USDA researchers looked at data from 50,000 households that were home to more than 130,000 individuals who participated in the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2015 Current Population …
Read More
The minute details of payer contracts can affect revenue to such an extent that they can make or break an urgent care center that’s just getting started. The Urgent Care Association will seek to help urgent care operators enter contracts that offer optimal terms during a two-part Advanced Payer Contracting Webinar this Thursday, December 6 and next Tuesday, December 11, from 1 to 2 pm, Central. After taking part in the webinar, attendees should have …
Read More
No responsible urgent care operator would knowingly employ a clinician whose history included behavior that put patients at risk, whether that meant irresponsible prescribing, claims of inappropriate behavior, or just plain incompetence. Unfortunately, just checking that a job candidate’s CV is on point and verifying references isn’t sufficient if someone has something to hide. A new report produced by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, USA Today, and MedPage Today tells the tale of a surgeon who …
Read More