Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

New OSHA Initiative Seeks to Ease Reporting—of Injury and Violations

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) is launching a new program that aims to simplify reporting of work-related illness and injury, as well as offer more protection for whistleblowers. Most relevant to urgent care operators who provide occupational health services, OSHA will require all work-related injuries and illness to be reported through a new database as of January 1, 2017. The same level of information will still have to be filed annually, but the …

Open for Business?

“Appearances matter” is a commonly heard phrase, but sometimes appearances can either encourage new patients to come in or literally stop patients at the door. It’s not enough that you’re open 12 hours per day. The equally important question is, does your urgent care center look open? I’ve frequently seen urgent care centers which—during operating hours—have their exterior signage turned off, no “open” sign displayed, and their window blinds closed, giving the appearance of being …

Community’s Welcome Shows the Benefit of a Well-Orchestrated Opening

Local media, elected municipal officials, and residents who know a good—and necessary—thing when they see one united in welcoming a new urgent care to an underserved corner of western Kansas. St. Catherine Hospital first recognized the need for a new community health resource to offset the pressure building in its own overcrowded emergency room, where patients complained about having to wait hours—or months, in extreme cases—just to be seen by a physician. Garden City, now …

Make Allies, Not Rivals, of Other Healthcare Providers

Some national provider organizations have, at times, been downright vehement in opposing the growth of urgent care. The common “complaint” seems to be that allowing patients to receive care without an appointment threatens the well-founded idea of the medical home. On the other hand—as industry insiders and patients know—urgent care provides necessary care at the time it’s needed most. If you want to build up relationships with local providers instead of defensively fending off misperceptions, …

CDC Cautions Providers Over Multidrug-resistant Yeast Infections

Urgent care centers see their share of patients seeking relief from yeast infections. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is warning healthcare facilities around the country of a multidrug-resistant type of yeast that has caused deadly hospital infections across the globe. Most commonly, Candida auris has caused healthcare-associated invasive infections such as bloodstream infections, wound infections, and otitis. Officials started taking note of international reports of C auris infections when it became clear …

UCA Seeks Accommodations for Small Practices in Proposed CMS Payments System

A new payment system being considered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will have to make more accommodations for smaller practices—such as many urgent care centers—if there’s any hope of it succeeding, according to comments the Urgent Care Association (UCA) submitted to CMS. In its current form, the Merit-Based Incentive Payments System (MIPS) would require some clinicians to get an exemption from MIPS by participating in an Advanced Alternative Payment Model or …

Encourage a Seasonal Surge by Courting Vacationers

Many urgent care centers are well prepared to administer travel-related vaccines for tourists bound for the Olympics or ready to set sail on a cruise. What about closer to home, though? With school out and vacationing in, would the first aid center at the water park and the manager of that motel off the interstate think of your urgent care center when they need to refer a guest who needs immediate care? You should 1) …

Healthcare is Outpacing Inflation—Make Your Case on Cost Savings

Healthcare costs are growing at a slower pace than in years past, but they’re still rising faster than the overall inflation rate, according to new data from the PwC Health Research Institute. That means the pressure is still on insurers and employers (not to mention everyday people who pay out of pocket) to make sure their own costs are kept in check. Urgent care has the chance to play the hero in this scenario by …

CDC: One Out of Five Visit a U.S. Emergency Room Every Year

New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that one out of every five Americans visits a hospital emergency room at least once a year, with California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Texas accounting for more than a third of all ED visits nationally. The report also reconfirms that most of these patients are adults who are not admitted to the hospital. Of interest to urgent care operators, the national rate for …

Window Decals Can Help Tell Your Story and Sell Your Services

If permitted in your municipality, window decals can enhance the appearance of your center, make your brand visible at eye-level to pedestrians on a city street (important if your signage is near the top of your building), and educate the community as to your various services. For example, there’s an OPTUM Urgent Care location in Plano, TX in the out-lot of a high-traffic SuperTarget store that uses its window decals to market a wide array …