Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

U.S. Needs to Step Up Efforts to Track MRSA Cooperatively

Various bodies in the United States are devoting significant resources to tracking methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections. However, they’re doing so in “silos” with little coordination from one to the next, which is getting in the way of developing strategies to control the spread of MRSA, according to a report published in Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control. At least one of the organizations cited in the report for tracking and reporting MRSA infections, Tricare, which …

Private Equity Stake in Urgent Care Grows with CityMD Acquisition

Urgent care operator CityMD’s steady expansion in the New York metropolitan area has made it an appealing prospect for private equity, with Warburg Pincus LLC said to be putting down $600 million to bring it into its healthcare fold. CityMD has some 68 locations currently, after starting with a single New York City center in 2010. The company bought one of its competitors, Premier Care, but also built new locations as part of its growth …

The More Cumbersome the EHR System, the Bigger the Drain on Revenue

The more time physicians spend dealing with electronic health record systems, the less money they make and the less time they have for providing care directly to patients, according to new data published in Health Affairs. The article says about half the time physicians spend working in EHR is during patient encounters. The other half of the time—when they’re not with patients, in other words—their time working within the EHR goes uncompensated, essentially. The authors …

Small Urgent Care Centers Have Bargaining Power, Too

Large healthcare organizations may have advantages when it comes to negotiating acquisitions of smaller urgent care centers, but with the right approach smaller operators can narrow the gap and do quite well for themselves. That’s the key message an article published in Becker’s Hospital Review. Quoting an expert from a mergers-and-acquisitions (M&A) advisory firm, the article offers the following five steps urgent care centers can take when negotiating: Make time for preparation.That means fully evaluating …

How Colleagues Treat Each Other Affects Quality of Care—and Outcomes

Rude behavior in the workplace might cost you good employees. Even worse, though, a new study indicates the consequences of incivility extend to patients. In a blog post for The Wall Street Journal, Dr. Gurpreet Dhaliwal, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and a practicing physician at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, describes what happened when clinical staff participating in an Israeli training exercise were broken into 24 pairs …

Urgent Care is One Focus of New CMS Antibiotic Stewardship Initiative

As antibiotic resistance continues to grow, organizations from the Urgent Care Association of America to the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have asked their audiences to take a close look at what they can do to curb unnecessary prescriptions that exacerbate the problem. (The cover article in the May issue of JUCM will look at how one institution tackled this problem, as well.) Now the Centers for Medicare …

Hospitals Try ‘Loss Leader’ Approach to Keep Patients Away from Urgent Care

Hospital operators like Mission Health System in North Carolina and Rush University Medical Center are trying a new approach to draw in patients off the street: offering urgent care at primary care prices. It seems to be working, too, as visits to other urgent care centers are down in the Asheville, NC area since Mission made their move. Mission My Care Now has opened four primary care locations that are open to walk-in patients beyond …

Legislators May Face Healthcare Protests and Angry Voters Over Recess

A lot of Republicans are angry that their elected officials have failed, thus far, to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”) with something more to their liking. There may be an equal number of Democrats railing about the prospect of Congress doing exactly that. Senators and Congresspersons can expect to get an earful from both over the 2-week spring recess. Healthcare providers are likely to make their wishes known, too. Some legislators have …

Michigan Blues Start Pushing Telemedicine

Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Michigan and Blue Care Network have apparently seen the light when it comes to the benefits of telemedicine. They’re working with physician groups on creating new financial incentives to expand member utilization. Seventeen groups, in fact, have already submitted telemedicine plans that could reap additional payments. Others are strategizing the best way to incorporate or expand telehealth offerings. BCBS says urgent care will figure prominently in its own efforts. …

‘Space for Lease’ Could be a Good Sign for Urgent Care

Downturns in other industries (remember video stores?) have proven to be golden opportunities for urgent care, as landlords eager to find solid customers have come to appreciate the industry’s stability. Now it appears that 10% of retail space may be up for grabs in the next few years, according to data from CoStar Group, thanks to the ever-growing popularity of online retailers. A fondness for take-out food is also hurting middle-of-the-road restaurants. Healthcare is practically …