Practice Management
U.S. HealthWorks continues to invest heavily in its Florida occupational medicine business, more than doubling its stake there by buying Lakeside Occupational Medical Centers, which operates 14 centers in the Tampa Bay, Lakeland, and Orlando areas. Once the deal is finalized, U.S. HealthWorks will have 27 locations in Florida; they’ll be among 244 medical offices and onsite clinics in 21 states. That makes it one of the largest occupational health and urgent care operators in …
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Texas Medicaid now covers certain mosquito repellent products as a Medicaid benefit for the prevention of the Zika virus under certain conditions, effective August 9. Girls and women 10-45 years of age and pregnant women of any age covered by Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), CHIP-Perinate, and Healthy Texas Women are all eligible. As with over-the-counter medications, a prescription is required for coverage. Interestingly, Texas has reported cases of Zika that originated elsewhere, but …
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Providers are the key personnel in any medical facility, and urgent care centers are no exception. To use a sports analogy, they’re the “superstars” of the team—which means they have to deliver if you’re going to have a winning record. However, as independent contractors, they can also put you on the losing side of Department of Labor and Internal Revenue Service violations. Attorney and experienced compliance officer Kurt Tullar will explain how to stay in …
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Offering cost savings vs higher-acuity settings and getting patients in and out the door quickly are primarily responsible for the ongoing rapid growth of the urgent care market, according to a new market report from Transparency Market Research (TMR). “The service time…[is] better than in an emergency department. Additionally, the fee per visit paid by a patient, whether with health insurance or not, in urgent care centers is much lower than the fee paid in …
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There have been nine injuries due to motorcycle crashes related to this year’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, and the event has five more days to go. That’s not exactly news that’s going to impact your day—unless you run an urgent care center in the Rapid City, SD area. Black Hills Urgent Care is one location that’s likely to see increased patient traffic related to the event. Regional Hospitals went so far as to urge bikers and …
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As an FAA-licensed commercial multi-engine instrument pilot, I have been well versed in the importance of checklists. When lives are at stake, a pilot cannot afford to overlook details pertaining to the configuration and operation of the airplane. For example, failing to assure the landing gear is fully down or that flaps are set properly upon approach can be deadly. Checklists help assure that pilots, no matter how experienced, don’t overlook anything. Likewise, checklists can …
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Urgent care centers that are dipping a toe into the telehealth pool may be helping to set standards that will become common practice in years to come. A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine predicts that telehealth will continue to grow, becoming more prevalent in teaching hospitals and opening the door for better chronic disease management. The article identifies three trends fueling its growth: Transformation from an application that increases access to …
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We told you earlier that residents of Miami have been infected with Zika virus transmitted by local mosquitos, prompting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to dispatch an emergency response team and revise its guidance on testing and prevention. Regardless of how likely or unlikely further domestic exposure may be, media attention and summer travel plans are likely to drive more patients with concerns about Zika to urgent centers. As such, operators are advised …
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Dignity Health, California’s biggest private hospital network, is pouring resources into the urgent care arena by opening the first of a dozen clinics it will operate with GoHealth Urgent Care in the San Francisco Bay area. Dignity says Americans “pay too much and get too little” for healthcare, and that urgent care can be a conduit to reducing waste. Treating a patient in urgent care vs the emergency room is also cheaper for the hospital, …
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Industry insiders have watched accountable care organizations (ACOs) thrive at the expense of smaller practices—including more than a few urgent care centers. Now one of the architects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as “Obamacare”), which laid the foundation for the ACOs, is having second thoughts. Bob Kocher, MD, who as a special assistant to President Obama helped shape the ACA, writes in a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece that in spite of …
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