Practice Management
GoHealth Urgent Care is going to open 15 new urgent care centers cobranded with Hartford HealthCare over the next 18 months. Hartford says it will benefit by bringing in a greater number of patients, by virtue of having more access points. GoHealth will have the benefit of technology standards like “smart glass” procedure rooms, mobile x-ray equipment, and a broader, unified electronic health records system. The partnership will also increase GoHealth’s visibility in central and …
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As President Trump and members of both houses of Congress work to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”), the Urgent Care Association (UCA) has revealed several health reform principles it will use to evaluate emerging legislative alternatives to the ACA. UCA says it will support policies that recognize urgent care should be treated as an essential health insurance benefit and included as an important element of value-based care, as well as those that …
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Hospitalizations for influenza are up 66% over the same period last year in Oregon, according to the Oregon Health Authority. They’re not just coming in through the emergency room, either; one clinician says his hospital’s urgent care and family practices departments, in addition to the ED, are all packed with flu patients. The spike in cases has put pressure on all practice settings, prompting the Health Authority to step up its efforts to promote flu …
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Recognizing the wisdom of offering patients a wider variety of options than primary care or the emergency room, more hospital systems are extending their brands to urgent care by entering into joint ventures with urgent care operators, or creating new urgent care centers of their own. The media are taking notice, too; a new article in Modern Healthcare details the investments MultiCare Health System, based in Tacoma, WA and Northwell Health of New Hyde Park, …
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Earlier this week, we brought you new data concerning ransomware cyberattacks on small businesses—and how to avoid falling prey to one. In the second segment of our three-part series, Randall Dennis, cybersecurity expert and COO of Guidance Partners, explains the various categories of cyberattacks and what steps you can take to thwart efforts to steal and exploit sensitive business and patient information. Dennis says cyberattacks on small and medium-sized businesses are on the rise, with over …
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Offering annual “memberships” to your urgent care center can be a good move to build customer loyalty, but also to encourage patients to seek care then they need it. FastMed Urgent Care, for one, has a program wherein patients pay $35 a year to receive a $35 discount for each subsequent self-pay visit. The plan also covers spouses and children under 18 who live in the same household and provides a prescription discount card where …
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Jennifer Ilgauskas saw how much her husband—former Cleveland Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas—relied on doctors and physical therapists to overcome injuries as quickly and safely as possible in his playing days. Now she says that inspired her to put her Master’s degree in public health to use by opening an urgent care center with a physician partner. That operation has been going so well that the duo just opened a second urgent care business, Lakewood Urgent …
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Urgent care centers are distinct from emergency rooms by virtue of the amount of time patients can expect to wait, cost, and the acuity of care offered. A federal court in Rhode Island determined that, at least in one case, they can be held to the same requirements of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) as hospital emergency departments, though. Friedrich, et al v South County Hospital Healthcare System, et al centered …
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With many states stuck in their peak flu seasons and death tolls rising—24 people have died from influenza in the state of Washington, alone—urgent care centers are being called upon to offer twofold support: First, to administer flu shots to patients who haven’t received them and provide supportive care for those who have influenza, and second, to care for patients fleeing emergency rooms that are overflowing with flu patients. Make sure area primary care office …
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The Urgent Care Association’s annual Benchmarking Report reveals these are boom times for the urgent care industry. The number of centers in the U.S. is up 10% from the previous year (to 7,357); 96% of urgent care centers saw more patients in 2015 than in 2014; and 92% of centers kept wait times to ≤30 minutes. Best of all, nine out of 10 centers expect continued growth, with many also saying they’re extending the services …
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