Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

UCA Webinar: Patient Engagement Promotes Profits (But, How?)

Patient engagement has gone from a vague concept to a key factor in running a successful urgent care clinic. But what does it actually mean—and more importantly, how do you ensure that it’s helping your business and not just so much wheel-spinning in pursuit of the latest trend in managing businesses of any kind? Marketing guru John Sung Kim will help you answer these questions as they apply to your operations during a live webinar …

CMS Chief: Healthcare.gov ‘Failed Millions’

Acting Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Andy Slavitt has acknowledged that Healthcare.gov, the platform through which previously uninsured Americans have accessed coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”), has “failed millions” since its launch more than 2 years ago. While he claims inherent problems in the system have been fixed, he says he recognizes the consequences of clunky EHR systems, low reimbursements, burnout, and various compliance requirements for primary care providers—consequences …

Care Coordination, Inexperience Make Retail Health Risky Business

Have some retailers waded so far into the healthcare waters that they may be over their heads? A new poll by Deloitte & Touche shows that the challenge of coordinating care among various providers and retail companies’ relative inexperience in the field of healthcare are leaving many companies at risk. Offerings are so diverse, from wellness screenings to treatment for acute low-acuity conditions by physician assistants and nurse practitioners, that some organizations may not be …

Occ Med Providers: Test for Illegal Drugs in Workers on Opioids for Chronic Pain

Urgent care operators who offer occupational medication services are advised to be on the lookout for illegal drugs when testing workers who take opioid medications for chronic pain. A new report from Ameritox Ltd. indicates that 10.4% of patients who are prescribed opioids to treat chronic pain test positive for at least one illicit drug. Marijuana was the drug identified most often, followed by cocaine, heroin, 3,4 methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA, better known as Ecstasy or Molly) …

FDA Advises to Stop Administering Sterile Products from Medaus

The Food and Drug Administration is asking healthcare professionals to stop administering drug products intended to be sterile that were made by Medaus Inc. due to a lack of sterility assurance. Providers in all settings, including urgent care, are urged to check their supplies and quarantine any “sterile” products from Medaus. Some of the drugs (eg, injectable nutritional products) are more likely to be found in urgent care centers than others, such as injectable hormone …

ACA: A Bust for Insurers, a Boon for Big Hospital Systems

Where the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”) is proving to be a major financial challenge for insurers, some large hospital systems are experiencing a windfall since it launched. Tenet and HCA Holdings each say that ACA member admissions were up significantly over the previous fiscal year’s results. Tenet reports a 28% increase in inpatient admissions for that segment, with overall patient revenue going up 6%; HCA’s ACA inpatient hospitalizations were up 27%. The companies have …

Update: Humana’s Four-State Exodus Leaves Alabama in a Tough Spot

Last week we told you about Humana’s plans to drop out of Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”) insurance exchanges in certain states. Now the company has revealed that one of those states is Alabama—leaving just one ACA exchange in the entire state, effective Dec. 31, 2016. The other states (so far) are Kansas, Wisconsin, and Virginia, though news regarding more states may still be ahead. The company first said it would consider exiting certain …

Collecting Your Own Patient Experience Data May Be More Help than Yelp

Probably more than for any other setting, patients rely on information they find online before deciding to visit an urgent care clinic. If you have stellar reviews on Yelp or other online review platforms, you’re in good shape, but the randomness of such sources can be a problem. Sentara Healthcare took matters into its own hands by surveying its own urgent care patients, resulting in 10,000 responses, and posting their results online. Working with National …

Ohio Law Gives PAs More Clinical Authority with Less Physician Oversight

Physician assistants in Ohio now have more authority to make decisions—including more freedom to prescribe drugs—under a new law signed into effect by Gov. John Kasich. While PAs still must work under the supervision of a physician, they have more autonomy when it comes to ordering diagnostics, prescribing or directly providing medications, and administering local anesthesia. While urgent care centers typically have physicians on site most or all of the time, retail clinics like those …

FDA Panel Calls for Mandatory Opioid Training

Physicians who prescribe opioid pain medications would have to undergo a higher level of specific training under a guidance recommended by a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel. In response to a perceived epidemic of opioid addiction and related deaths, the panel voted unanimously to advice requiring more education about the drugs’ risks. The panel’s vote was unanimous, but not binding—though the FDA does often follow recommendations made by its outside expert panels.