Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

CDC: Public Exchange Coverage Up, Off-exchange Coverage Down

As public exchange coverage climbed in the third quarter of 2015, use of off-exchange private coverage dropped, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This see-saw effect seems to indicate that U.S. health carriers had more trouble holding on to enrollees in group plans and off-exchange individual policies than they did holding on to enrollees in public exchange plans. Critics of the Affordable Care Act exchange system have noted that …

GoHealth Partners with Dignity Health in San Francisco Bay Area Expansion

GoHealth Urgent Care is broadening its horizons by partnering with Dignity Health to open 12 urgent care centers in the San Francisco Bay area within the next 12 to 15 months. The venture will be owned equally by the two companies, but Dignity physicians will staff the new facilities. Each center will have basic lab and x-ray capabilities. Presently, GoHealth’s operations are limited to the New York and Portland, OR metropolitan areas. Dignity Health is …

Pediatric Emergency Care Finds Most Urgent Care Sites Well Prepared

A new article published in the journal Pediatric Emergency Care adds valuable data that should further distinguish urgent care centers from retail health outlets commonly seen in community drugstores. Lead author Robert Wilkinson, DO and colleagues set out to quantify how prepared urgent care centers are for emergencies involving younger patients per guidelines issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics. They found it is typical for urgent care centers to have what it deems “essential …

Follow-up Text Messages Raise Medication Compliance by 18%

As some insurers explore the wisdom of encouraging web chats and email for physician–patient communication, a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine supports the idea that text messages may bolster patient compliance with a physician’s directions. This particular metaanalysis considered 16 studies involving nearly 3,000 patients and showed an 18% increase in patient follow-through with appropriate medication use (from 50% to 68%). Increased adherence with medication regimens not only leads to better outcomes, but …

Increases in Cost of Care Outpace Income and Overall Spending

A breakdown of consumer spending from the Bureau of Labor Statistics supports the notion that the high cost of healthcare encourages patients to seek care in less traditional settings like urgent care. Data for 2012–2014, the most current available, show that 19 percent of total healthcare spending is out of pocket—and that figures is still on the rise. With an increase of 20.6%, increases in total spending for healthcare far outpaced income before taxes (up …

Health Cost Containment Makes for Strange Bedfellows

HCA is joining with Coca-Cola, Verizon, American Express, and other major companies in diverse industries in a new initiative aimed at stemming skyrocketing healthcare costs. The 20 member companies of the Health Transformation Alliance will pool data on the population health of their workers as a first step toward making “smarter and better decisions” when it comes to employee health plans, according to Tevi Troy, president of the American Health Policy Institute (which came up …

Investing in Employee Wellness May Bring Dividends—Literally

Investments in employee wellness programs appear to benefit the companies that make them beyond attracting quality employees; they may actually be linked to higher stock prices, according to data published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Three new peer-reviewed studies looked at the change in stock prices for three portfolios of employers who won awards for their employee wellness programs or who self-scored themselves as having a comprehensive program. In all three cases, …

The Pros and Cons of Acquiring Accounts Receivables in Urgent Care Transactions

URGENT MESSAGE: Unlike most retail and service businesses in which customer transactions result in immediate cash in the register, the nature of insurance and government billing in urgent care creates accounts receivable, which can be a complicating factor when buying or selling an urgent care practice. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Practice Management Editor of JUCM—The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine, a member of the Board of Directors of the Urgent Care Association of …

Be Prepared for Post Super Bowl Flu Spike—Especially in Colorado and North Carolina

Digging into the communal nacho platter at a Super Bowl party could give celebrants a bad case of eater’s remorse—in the form of influenza, especially among the hometown fans of the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos. It’s no joke: A new study published in the American Journal of Health Economics reports that the death rate attributed to the flu was significantly higher in regions that Super Bowl teams came from between 1974 and 2009. Researchers …

UCA Webinar: Taking Measure of Patient Satisfaction

The key to gaining patient loyalty is ensuring patient satisfaction. But how do you measure that—outside of noticing that you don’t have many repeat visits? One of the earliest and best-regarded entrants into the urgent care market, David Stern, MD will suggest approaches in Measuring Patient Satisfaction: Keeping It Simple, a one-hour webinar to be hosted by the Urgent Care Association (UCA) February 18 at 1 p.m., Central. Dr. Stern is CEO of Practice Velocity, …