Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Study: High Deductibles May Inhibit Adequate Care

High deductibles may be keeping some patients from getting the care they really need—clearly a risk for them but also a possible impediment to healthcare reform in the U.S., according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Not mentioned is the fact that urgent care may offer a solution to at least one of those challenges by offering care whose cost is scaled to the appropriate acuity level. The study …

American CareSource/GoNow Expansion Continues

GoNow Doctors is making good on its vow to keep growing in the urgent care sector, having just purchased Medac Health Services in the Wilmington, NC area. The four clinics, including one that offers occupational medicine services, will continue to operate under the Medac name. With the completion of the Medac acquisition, GoNow Doctors now has its hands on 13 urgent and primary care centers in the eastern part of the country. At the same …

Let Your Patient Base Know Urgent Care is Less Costly

Healthcare costs are proving to be the ruin of too many people in the U.S., highlighting the need for urgent care to present itself as a viable, high-quality alternative to budget-breaking trips to the emergency room. Facts: Medical bankruptcy, which affects 2 million people, has become the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the U.S., and roughly 20% of adults have trouble affording medical care, according to NerdWallet.com. With as many as eight out of …

West Virginia Moving Toward Prescribing Authority for APRNs

The West Virginia House of Delegates has approved a bill that would give advanced practice registered nurses more authority to treat patients and prescribe medications without a physician’s supervision. If the state senate also passes the “Nurse Practitioners Bill,” West Virginia will become the 22nd state allowing nurse practitioners to do so. The senate has already proposed two amendments to the version passed by the house; one would establish an advisory board to put forth …

One Year In, Latino-focused Clinic Doubles in Size

Identifying and providing care for an underserved population may hold untold benefits for urgent care operators. In the case of Cliníca Médicos in Chattanooga, TN, that meant focusing on Spanish-speaking residents. Now the clinic is about to double in size just one year after opening its doors. The original mission was to offer healthcare services to area Latinos, regardless of insurance status. Patient volume has risen every month since, to the point that the clinic now …

Are Retail Clinics Pennywise, Pound-foolish?

One of the retail health sector’s key selling points—convenience—may partially negate its perceived cost benefit vs urgent care or the emergency room. A new study published in Health Affairs reveals that use of retail clinics actually led to higher overall spending because patients were more inclined to seek professional care for complaints so minor that they could have been treated at home. The data, which reflect claims data from Aetna, indicate that 58% of retail …

UCA Webinar: Building Business by Building Relationships

Some healthcare facilities may view urgent care as the competition, but there’s mutual benefit to establishing complementary relationships among local providers and settings, not to mention patients and employers. That’s the message Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc Practice Velocity will impart in a one-hour webinar to be hosted by the Urgent Care Association (UCA) on Thursday, March 24, at 1 p.m., Central time. An active referral network benefits not only both healthcare facilities, but patients …

Acquisition Brings U.S. HealthWorks to Colorado

U.S. HealthWorks is on a Rocky Mountain high after buying Colorado-based Arbor Occupational Medicine. Bringing Arbor’s four locations into the fold means U.S. Healthworks will now have 231 locations in 21 states; these are the first in Colorado, however. Arbor was founded in Boulder in 1992 with a focus on occupational medicine and physical therapy and a mission to reduce return-to-work time. All told, U.S. HealthWorks collectively has roughly 800 providers who administer care for …

Denial Rate Low—But Costly—4 Months Into ICD-10

The denial rate for claims initiated after the crossover from the ICD-9 system to ICD-10 codes in October has been steady—and lower than hysterics predicted it would be—if the 262 million claims processed by one company are any indication. RelayHealth Financial, a revenue cycle management provider, found a denial rate of 1.6% in each month from November 2015 through the first 3 weeks of February 2016. That reflects claims involving 630,000 healthcare providers. The financial …

Study: ACA Fails to Slow ED Visits, But Urgent Care Use Also On the Rise

One of the selling points of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as Obamacare) was that it would save health dollars by diverting newly insured patients away from the emergency room toward primary care physicians. Instead, ED use has continued to grow. The issue, according to Robert Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis at Harvard’s School of Public Health, is the same as it’s always been, regardless of an individual’s insurance status: …