Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Collection Problems Are Hurting Freestanding ER Sector

Freestanding emergency rooms have been roundly criticized for their billing practices, most often as a result of “surprise bills” that patients don’t feel they should have to pay and insurers absolutely refuse to consider. In addition to angering patients and inspiring legislators to draft new consumer-protection laws, though, many freestanding ER companies are having a tough time getting paid at all. Adeptus, considered the leading provider in the industry, has been especially hard hit. Its …

Urgent Care Needs to Educate Patients on Telemedicine

Telemedicine has been shown to provide valuable access for patients who otherwise might not be able to see a physician in person. Unfortunately, not all patients have gotten the message that it’s best used as an alternative to heading to the doctor’s office; instead, they follow a virtual visit with a face-to-face encounter, thereby costing themselves and/or their insurers money unnecessarily. When RAND crunched data on CalPERS Blue Shield members who used Teledoc virtual visit …

Consider Options Beyond Opioids for Young Athletes

With the opioid addiction crisis hanging over their heads, physicians are constantly weighing the risk vs benefit of prescribing narcotics for patients in extreme pain. This can be especially tough when treating younger patients who’ve sustained an injury, such as those increasingly common in youth sports. Many physicians who specialize in sports medicine have started using a multimodal approach that employs counseling, physical therapy, and even nerve blocks. Some states have launched efforts (and even …

Update: U.S. Candida auris Cases Have More Than Doubled

In November, we told you the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was urging clinicians to “act now to better understand, contain, and stop the spread of” infection caused by drug-resistant Candida auris. Since then, the number of C auris cases in the U.S. has more than doubled (from 13 to 35, with 28 of them occurring in New York alone). C auris can cause serious bloodstream infections, transmits easily from person-to-person in healthcare settings, …

Even ‘Simple’ Cases Can Turn Life-Threatening

Conventional wisdom says that urgent care is the place to go unless a patient has life- or limb-threatening problems. Even typically benign illness like strep throat can turn into something far worse if it’s not diagnosed and treated correctly, however. In one extreme case detailed on The Today Show website, a Michigan man ended up losing fingers and parts of his feet after a missed diagnosis of strep ultimately led to septic shock that nearly …

Update: Urgent Care Needs to Get the Mumps Message Across

You’ve read here that mumps has been spreading like wildfire in certain states, especially on college campuses and among school-aged children. Instead of winding down, however, outbreaks are actually picking up steam in multiple states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, underscoring the need for urgent care centers to help raise awareness about prevention in their communities. The CDC says cases of mumps has been confirmed in 37 states and the District …

Wanted: One Doctor to Answer the Call of the Rockies

If you have a dollar in your pocket right now and would relish the opportunity to practice in your own clinic in the Rocky Mountains, Park County, CO is waiting to fulfill your dreams. There’s a five-room clinic there that has been vacant for over 2 years, leaving some 16,000 residents without a local facility that can set their broken bones, prescribe antibiotics for their children’s earaches, or even provide follow-up for chronic conditions. Park …

Can a DFW Airport Urgent Care Location Take Off?

Code 3 is gambling that opening a pair of acute care facilities at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)—an urgent care center and a separate freestanding emergency room—will help profits soar. However, some industry experts are skeptical that the airport has the right stuff. Code 3 says the clinic should open in August, while the goal for the ED is to open by the end of the year. While urgent care centers in airport locations are …

Courtesy Counts Toward Patient Satisfaction

The old axiom “you never get a second chance to make a first impression” is highly relevant in urgent care, where patients already not having the best of days are probably encountering your front desk staff and clinical team for the first time. Now a new study shows how those patients perceive the professionals they meet in your location is likely to influence their overall satisfaction, as well as their likelihood of complaining later on. …

Video Care—the Next Best Thing to Being There?

While there’s no way to apply stitches, start an IV, or cast a patient remotely, virtual visits may be just fine for many complaints that drive people to urgent care. A new study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research shows that outcomes—defined as the need for follow-up visits for the same complaint—for some common diagnoses were no different between patients seen in person or via video hookup. In fact, that standard was met …