Practice Management
Outpatient visits for flu like illness are on a steady decline in the United States, indicating reduced activity of respiratory viruses including flu, COVID, and respiratory syncytial virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports the first week of April showed that visits for respiratory illness with fever plus a cough or sore throat fell to 2.8%, just below the national baseline of 2.9%. Positive labs for flu were down 7.7% since the …
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A new study demonstrates that the benefits of clinician empathy toward patients can be even more effective than some therapies in treating chronic low-back pain, as published in JAMA Network Open. Low-back pain affects up to 85% of the US population, and researchers found that treatment from physicians whom the patients considered “very empathic” was associated with better outcomes at the end of 1 year than treatment from “slightly empathic” physicians. Each of the 1,470 …
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A new report from the University of Michigan found 60% of people aged 50 to 80 have visited an urgent care (UC) clinic or a retail store, workplace, or mobile health clinic setting within the past 2 years. The university’s National Poll on Healthy Aging analysis notes that urgent care clinics were the top choice among these alternative sites of care: 47% of respondents say they have accessed UC at least once, and 23% visited …
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Another ransomware group, RansomHub, is allegedly attempting to extort UnitedHealth Group’s Change Healthcare unit in a second round of cyberattacks, according to Becker’s Hospital Review. They claim to possess 4 terabytes of Change’s data and have demanded payment, threatening to sell the sensitive health and financial information of millions of consumers on the dark web. Change Healthcare had previously paid $22 million to the BlackCat/ALPHV ransomware outfit after a February cyberattack that severely crippled the …
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Congressional leaders are doubling down on their scrutiny of how private equity (PE) ownership may potentially be influencing care within PE investor’s portfolios of healthcare companies, according to a summary from Axios. One Senate proposal entered into discussion recently suggests that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) should have the authority to halt certain healthcare PE transactions by creating licensing standards for firms before they can invest in healthcare assets. Leaders are also …
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Earlier this month, ExperCARE announced its acquisition of MedCenter Urgent Care, adding several new locations to ExperCARE’s portfolio, while extending its reach into Alabama for the first time. Founded in 2002, MedCenter Urgent Care offers urgent care as well as family medicine. Backed by Seven Hills Capital since September of 2022, ExperCARE operates 7 other locations throughout the greater Savannah, Georgia, area. Acquisition deals: This transaction represents a follow-on urgent care asset for Seven Hills. …
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Saint Alphonsus Health System in Idaho is set to take over an ambulatory surgery center and 2 urgent care centers previously owned and operated by Intermountain’s Saltzer Health. Intermountain had planned to shut down Saltzer Health in Idaho by April if no buyer came forward, according to Healthcare Finance News. The health systems reportedly have been working together to solve the potential community access challenges that would have resulted from the multispecialty physician group ceasing …
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The Food and Drug Administration is under pressure from attorneys general to update guidance on pulse oximeters to take into account the risk for inaccurate readings when the devices are used for patients with darker skin tones. Pulse oximeters can overestimate blood oxygen levels for patients with darker skin, and research demonstrating the relationship between skin tone and oximeter readings dates back as far as 2005. Proposed updates include options such as warning labels and …
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Results from a poll of 1,000 consumers presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts show that half of those who went to an emergency department (ED) believed the amount of time they waited for care was unreasonable. While only 3% of respondents who went to the ED had to wait more than 12 hours, another 6% waited from 8-12 hours, 22% waited 4-8 hours, and 29% waited 2-4 hours. The balance (39%) waited less …
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The Urgent Care Association’s (UCA) Commission on Diversity is seeking organizations to participate in a pilot program for a new commendation for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). UCA created the program as an opportunity for urgent care organizations to be recognized for efforts to address disparities with well-thought DEI strategies. The DEI Commendation will be structured to recognize a commitment to best practices in creating inclusive environments, while fostering equal opportunities and embracing diversity to …
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