Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Influx of Retail Clinics Worries San Franciscans

The growth of retail clinics across the country may have chain drugstore operators patting themselves on the back, but it has some residents in local communities saying “There goes the neighborhood.” One thing that concerns people in some San Francisco neighborhoods, for example, is that crafty operators are exploiting loopholes in local regulations to transition some spaces from retail to medical use. Residents are most concerned about additional traffic and unwelcome changes in the character …

‘There’s Profitability in Affordability’ for Urgent Care

The path to ongoing growth in the urgent care industry is paved with the dollars it saves payers and patients, according to MedExpress Chief Medical Officer Thomas Pangburn, MD. While insurers would likely disagree, Pangburn says that includes the advent of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”). Here’s some of the rationale he shared with the Pittsburgh Tribune Review : “With the Affordable Care Act and changes in the healthcare system, more and more …

Missouri Demands Medicaid Copay in the ED—But Not in Urgent Care

Medicaid patients in Missouri will have to fork over an $8 copay before receiving care in the emergency room, thanks to a new bill that aims to reduce overusage in the ED. The bill allows for free visits to urgent care centers, however. Senate Bill 608 also gives physician offices the right to assess Medicaid patients a $5 penalty if they make a habit of missing appointments without 24-hours’ notice; miss an appointment once and …

Are Urgency Centers Becoming a ‘Thing?’

They’re popping up in Boulder, Vancouver, the Twin Cities, and a scant few other locations around the country, but the question for many people—certainly the patients who may (or may not) be inclined to visit them—remains, what is an “urgency” center? As the name implies, urgency centers are intended to be a hybrid of emergency rooms and urgent care centers, without getting caught up in the controversies surrounding freestanding emergency rooms (mainly as they pertain …

Reno Will Keep Seeing Ambulances Roll Up to the Urgent Care Center

A public–private partnership that supports ambulance transport to urgent care centers when clinically appropriate just got new life in Reno, NV. It’s a cooperative effort between Reno’s Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority and Renown Health, launched in 2012 with the help of $9.8 million from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Healthcare Innovation Award program. That grant ran out, but Renown says it will continue to support the program because of the cost savings …

Positive Drugs Tests Have Soared Among Workers in the Past Decade

It will probably come as no surprise to urgent care providers who offer occupational medicine services, but the percentage of U.S. workers who’ve tested positive for drugs has increased steadily over the past 3 years—to the point that they’re now at a 10-year peak. The Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index, which analyzes millions of urine samples, oral fluid samples, and hair samples annually, shows 5 consecutive years of increased positive tests for amphetamine and heroin, …

If School Nurses Provide Virtual Urgent Care, Who Pays?

On the surface, it sounds like a great way to see children getting the care they need as soon as possible. However, questions abound about the feasibility of a new program that gives students in Greene County (Tennessee) Schools access to virtual urgent care under a partnership between Niswonger Children’s Hospital and First Assist Urgent Care. Basically, the Niswonger Virtual Health Clinic offers students online access to doctors and nurse practitioners within their school nurse’s …

Urgent Care Clinical Trials Efforts Are Expanding

We’ve told you here that urgent care-specific clinical trials will both raise the profile and perceived legitimacy of this setting and result in better patient care. Now there’s a new opportunity for urgent care operators to take part in those efforts. Urgent Care Clinical Trials, an investigative site network geared specifically for the urgent care industry, is recruiting urgent care partners in the Dallas and Fort Worth, TX areas to help conduct clinical trials and …

MedExpress Launches Long Urgent Care March into Minnesota

UnitedHealth Group’s Optum division vowed to open 19 new urgent care centers in Minnesota by the end of 2017—starting now, with operations in Eden Prairie and Plymouth commencing September 16. Firm plans for the remaining 15 locations are not confirmed, but a dozen are expected to be in the Twin Cities, ultimately. All the locations will fly the MedExpress banner. It’s a substantial change in the state’s urgent care profile; data from MN Community Measurement …

UCA Commits to Antibiotic Stewardship

The Urgent Care Association (UCA) has outlined a framework by which it plans to guide urgent care centers to reduce inappropriate outpatient antibiotic, with an ultimate goal to curb the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. UCA’s statement notes that with urgent care clinicians treating some 160 million patients annually—many of whom think they may need an antibiotic—this setting is in a strong position to effect positive change. “UCA recognizes the vitally important role our clinicians …