Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

What the New Microchip Credit Cards Mean for Urgent Care

URGENT MESSAGE: Effective October 1, 2015, businesses that accept credit and debit cards can be responsible for fraud charges if they do not implement technology that reads the microchip-enabled cards now being issued by banks. Urgent care operators should work with their credit card processors to assure compliance through use of upgraded equipment that is compatible with their practice management systems. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent …

Making a Business Case for Urgent Care Holiday Hours

URGENT MESSAGE: Whether an urgent care center should be open 365 days per year or close on major or minor holidays depends upon factors that influence profitability, such as patient demand, competitive positioning, staff availability, payer reimbursement, and the branding impact of after-hours accessibility. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine, serves on the Board of Directors of the Urgent Care Association, and is Vice President …

ACP Calls for Scope of Practice Limits on Retail Clinics

The American College of Physicians has called for scope of practice limits on retail health clinics such as those built into chain drugstores. In the executive summary of a policy position paper by Hilary Daniel and Shari Erikson and published on the website of the Annals of Internal Medicine, ACP expressed concern over recent efforts to manage chronic conditions in the retail setting, suggesting that research into potential negative outcomes may be desirable. It acknowledged …

Defense Bill Veto Leaves Urgent Care Visits in Limbo for Military and Families

President Obama’s veto of the $612 billion defense spending bill last week could affect more than traditional military contractors and pay raises for service members. The bill would have allowed more than a million military personnel and their families to seek care at urgent care centers directly; currently, they have to get a referral from their primary care physician. Both houses of Congress passed the bill, which has other healthcare implications besides the urgent care …

NY Urgent Care Centers Agree to Beef Up Insurance Disclosures

A handful of urgent care centers in New York will have to find ways to make their fee structure and status with various health plans clearer to prospective patients as part of a settlement with the state attorney general’s office. The four operators, all in the New York City metropolitan area, have agreed to do the following: Identify all health plans with which it has contracted to be an in-network, participating provider on its website. If …