Practice Management
Las Vegas is the latest municipality to recognize that not all 911 calls require response with a fully equipped ambulance and EMS crew. As part of a new pilot program by the Las Vegas Fire and Rescue Department, 911 operators are being trained to identify which calls really do require a full emergency response, and which could be transferred to a specially trained nurse who can guide the patient to the right level of care—including …
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The steady growth of the urgent care industry in the U.S. should continue for at least the next several years, according to a new market forecast from TMR Research. The growing proportion of the elderly population, the rise of chronic diseases that require occasional immediate attention, and increasing investment from both public and private parties will be primary drivers, according to the report. It defines urgent care centers as “walk-in or no appointment healthcare centers …
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Though they’ll need to acquire additional licensure before they can start shipping prescription drugs to customers, Amazon has been licensed as a wholesale pharmacy distributor in 12 states. Regulators in Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, and Tennessee have all given their blessing. Obviously, this has raised conjecture that the virtual retail giant has big plans to make a name for itself in healthcare delivery. Analysts say …
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National urgent care operator American Family Care (AFC) is going to offer free flu shots to Americans who have served in the military this Veterans Day (Saturday, November 11). It’s actually taking a page from the military’s own book, as the U.S. armed services was the first body to initiate an influenza vaccination policy back in the 1940s. The Veterans Day effort goes beyond a feel-good publicity campaign, owing to the fact that veterans tend …
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Michigan companies can’t fill jobs because too many people can’t pass a drug test, screams a headline reposted to Crain’s Detroit Business from Bridge Magazine. It’s not just idle chatter, either; the article under that headline quotes data from Quest Diagnostics’ Drug Testing Index, as well as workplace experts and state officials in Michigan. The problem may be especially acute in Traverse City, MI, but for reasons that would be applicable to any number of …
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The unabated epidemic of opioid and synthetic opioid addiction has moved President Trump to declare it a national public health emergency. It’s also moving occupational health providers, including some urgent care operators, to look at updating the drug screens they give as part of their pre-employment examinations. Tennessee Occupational Health, for one, reports that as much as 80% of positive drug tests they see show evidence of opiates. As recently as 5 years, ago, marijuana …
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A new predictive model from the University of Chicago indicates we should prepare for a flu season that’s “worse than average.” One important indicator in the model is the severity of flu in Australia, where the seasons are ahead of those in the U.S.; Australians just suffered through their worst flu season on record. The data underscore the importance of getting immunized early in the season—as in, now—especially for those at highest risk, such as …
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Neither company has confirmed it, but The Wall Street Journal reports that CVS Health has offered to buy Aetna in a deal that could have vast implications in the retail health and insurance marketplaces. The combined company would have much stronger bargaining power when negotiating deals with health systems, payers, and pharmaceutical companies, than either company does alone. For starters, as the WSJ article points out, CVS’s pharmacy benefit management arm would see “a huge …
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Two major players in urgent care and occupational medicine are being joined together by their respective ownerships. Select Medical Holdings Corporation and Dignity Health have agreed on a definitive agreement to combine Concentra Group Holdings, LLC, an occupational medicine and urgent care service provider, with U.S. HealthWorks, Inc., which offers services in the same sectors. There is some geographical overlap, such as in the Milwaukee and Nashville markets, but locations are more complementary than they …
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Despite the fact that pregnant women and infants are increased risk for severe, influenza-related illness, nearly half of women approaching childbirth fail to get a flu shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, in a recently published study, the CDC also found that simply offering to give a pregnant woman a flu shot increased the rate of coverage from 56% to around 70%. The report is careful to distinguish making a …
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