Practice Management
HCA Holdings has a lot of money to shop with—a $2.9 billion capital budget, to be exact—and is planning on using a good chunk of it to buy a bigger portion of the urgent care marketplace. Known more as a hospital company, it expects to grow its urgent care business by 67% this year, from its current 72 clinics to 120 between now and December. It will also invest more heavily in the freestanding emergency …
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While the country is locked in its annual battle against influenza, a second “bug” is creeping up and taking its toll on schools and workplaces, as well. Like the flu, norovirus picks up steam in the winter months and is especially hard—sometimes deadly—on seniors and young children. Now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts February will be the peak month for infection, which is characterized by intense gastrological symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, …
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The American Heart Association says February is American Heart Month. Dignity Health‒GoHealth Urgent Care is leaning into that spotlight by launching a monthlong initiative it’s calling Love Your Heart, during which patients are invited to visit one of the company’s urgent care centers for free blood pressure readings, BMI calculations, and waist circumference measurements. The company says the campaign is intended to increase awareness of cardiovascular issues and to encourage more people to “take charge …
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Mindful of the rampant overuse and abuse of opioid medications, the U.S. Department of Transportation has proposed adding four of the most common—hydrocodone, oxycodone, oxymorphone, and hydromorphone—to its list of drugs that drivers must be screened for in urine analysis tests. Following through would bring the DOT testing protocol up to date with current Health and Human Services guidelines. There’s no date set for when the proposed changes would take effect. Urgent care providers who …
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Carena, a virtual urgent care center in Seattle, has gained a healthy following among brick-and-mortar urgent care clinics around the country by “seeing” patients with fairly typical complaints like rashes and symptoms of bladder infections. The company reports that their lines are really jumping now that flu season is in full force. They, and other e-medicine providers, can’t offer flu shots, of course, but they can help patients who don’t have the flu avoid exposure …
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Would a prospective patient who lands on your homepage after a Google search or seeing one of your ads be able to tell the difference between your center and the one four blocks down? If you’re Sequoia Prompt Care in Visalia, CA they would. The first things a web visitor to their website sees, in big bold letters, is “Click here to QuickPass the waiting room!” Follow that direction and you’re taken to another screen …
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Patients visiting Lanier Urgent Care in Gainesville, GA are asked the usual questions upon arrival—plus one that’s very atypical: You wanna see the dogs? According to the centers practice administrator, 90% of patients answer “Yes!” to that question. Lanier has a pair of canines on site every day, though one of them will likely be departing to spend time in Lanier’s soon-to-open second location. Dr. Ronald Perry, president of Lanier, says the dogs have a …
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GoHealth Urgent Care is going to open 15 new urgent care centers cobranded with Hartford HealthCare over the next 18 months. Hartford says it will benefit by bringing in a greater number of patients, by virtue of having more access points. GoHealth will have the benefit of technology standards like “smart glass” procedure rooms, mobile x-ray equipment, and a broader, unified electronic health records system. The partnership will also increase GoHealth’s visibility in central and …
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As President Trump and members of both houses of Congress work to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”), the Urgent Care Association (UCA) has revealed several health reform principles it will use to evaluate emerging legislative alternatives to the ACA. UCA says it will support policies that recognize urgent care should be treated as an essential health insurance benefit and included as an important element of value-based care, as well as those that …
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Hospitalizations for influenza are up 66% over the same period last year in Oregon, according to the Oregon Health Authority. They’re not just coming in through the emergency room, either; one clinician says his hospital’s urgent care and family practices departments, in addition to the ED, are all packed with flu patients. The spike in cases has put pressure on all practice settings, prompting the Health Authority to step up its efforts to promote flu …
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