Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Federal Judge Says Transgender Health Rule May Violate Physicians’ Rights

A federal judge in Texas granted a temporary restraining order against federal health officials who may seek to enforce rules that ban discrimination by physicians and hospitals against transgender patients. The judge says he based his decisions on the grounds that compelling doctors to support patients who have either completed or are currently transitioning could equate to forcing doctors to violate their own religious beliefs. Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, and Wisconsin joined Texas in the suit, …

UCA Webinars: Preparing for the New Medicare Quality Payment Program

Ensuring payers send you every penny you earned can seem like a daunting challenge, especially with new rules—or entire systems—coming out every year. To help you start the new year on the right track, the Urgent Care Association is hosting two webinars on January 11 and 18 to discuss the new Medicare Quality Payment Program. Each one-hour webinar is designed for physicians, physician assistants, nurses/nurse practitioners, coders/billers, and IT staff. The presenter will be Camille …

Would Making House Calls Drive You to the Poor House?

An urgent care company in Texas is betting that taking urgent care directly to patients who can’t (or simply don’t want to) come to a center will ultimately help its business. Taking a page from the Marcus Welby, MD playbook, it’s sending doctors out to make house calls in vehicles boldly adorned with its logo, website, and phone number. While there may be some promotional value in having that car on the street, and the …

What You Can—and Can’t—Convey in a Text Message to Other Providers

New guidelines from The Joint Commission clarify what clinicians are allowed to convey via text messages. Urgent care providers should especially be aware that clinicians are allowed to text each other using a HIPAA-compliant platform as long as they don’t do so to send patient care orders. The new guidance, drawn up in consultation with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, also stipulates that all healthcare organizations should have policies prohibiting the use of …

Duane Reade Shutters New York City Drugstore Clinics

Duane Reade may still seem like it really does have a pharmacy on every corner of New York City, but none of those drugstores is going to house a clinic anymore. The company says it will close all its retail pharmacy clinics before New Year’s Day. The New York City Department of Health says the move is not likely to have dramatic impact because “the vast majority of primary care visits occur in non-retail clinic …

JAMA Article Adds Fuel to ED vs Urgent Care Cost Comparison

If it were a nation unto itself, the U.S. healthcare system would have the fifth-largest economy in the world. As it is, it accounts for more than 17% of the U.S. economy—with spending in the emergency room being the fastest-growing portion, according to a new article in the Journal of the American Medical Association. U.S. Spending on Personal Health Care and Public Health, 1996-2013, by Joseph L. Dieleman, PhD, points out that Americans spend more …

False Positives Common with Some Zika Tests, FDA Warns

Urgent care clinicians have been told to test, or refer for testing, pregnant patients who could have been exposed to Zika virus (or had sexual relations with a partner would could have been exposed). Now the Food and Drug Administration says some such patients could have tested positive for Zika even though they don’t actually have not been infected. LabCorp’s ZIKV Detect test, specifically, should not be relied on to make “significant patient management decisions,” …

‘Meaningful Use’ Pay Cuts Kick in on New Year’s Day

Urgent care doctors, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners who did not demonstrate that they met requirements for meaningful use of electronic health record systems as mandated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will see a 3% decrease in Medicare payments starting January 1, 2017. As you read here, CMS first announced its plans to require clinicians to show meaningful use during a finite 90-day period that year. That finite period was later …

Check with Counsel on 2017 Employment Law Updates

New state and local laws will take effect come the New Year all around the country. In Illinois, for example, one new law pertains to urgent care centers, specifically; it mandates that all locations display notices regarding human trafficking in a conspicuous place. More broadly, urgent care operations that provide occupational medicine services will certainly need to keep abreast of legal requirements in the states and municipalities where they practice, but all urgent care companies …

New Analysis Predicts Urgent Care Will Grow 30% by 2020

Increasing healthcare spending and an aging population are expected to boost demand for cost-effective, convenient medical care—adding up to strong growth in the urgent care marketplace for the remainder of the decade, according to a new report from Market Research Search Engine (MRRSE). The company’s conclusions are based on in-depth interviews with key opinion leaders within urgent care, but also on extensive secondary research. The report describes the industry as “highly fragmented,” with “small players” …

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