Practice Management
Mercer Health may have hit on the value of a practice that is pretty common in nonclinical businesses: summer interns. These are not “interns” in the usual medical setting sense, but college students looking for opportunities to learn about a work environment while still undergraduates. In Mercer’s case, they’re also kids who are planning to apply to medical school eventually and want to round out their resumes with practical experiences that indicate their commitment to …
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As you may recall, JUCM News just informed you that dozens of hospitals are cutting back on services and hours, or ceasing to provide service altogether in certain departments—and suggested that such moves, necessary as they may be, would have a spillover effect that could ultimately affect urgent care. Now there’s an article in Time magazine indicating that this is already happening. It quotes a county health official who recently visited a local hospital as saying …
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Anybody who tuned in to WGIL radio at the right time recently learned everything they needed to know about OSF OnCall Urgent Care in Galesburg, IL. That’s because the facility’s manager was a guest on Galesburg Live, one of the station’s shows, talking about what makes urgent care a distinct environment. More to the point, she also spoke about OSF OnCall’s capabilities and of course their hours and location. She also shared a bit about …
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The number of people living with diabetes across the globe is expected to double in the coming decades, ultimately exceeding 1.3 billion by the year 2050. As reported by MedPage Today, data presented at the American Diabetes’ Society’s annual Scientific Sessions age-standardized global diabetes prevalence will jump from 6.1% to 9.8% thanks largely to unchecked increases in body mass index and social determinants of health. Limiting complications will require both better care and expanded access …
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IU Health Blackford Hospital in Hartford City, IN is closing its emergency room and is going to stop offering inpatient services. In Philadelphia, Jefferson Health will cease acute care and emergency services. St. Mark’s Medical Center in La Grange, TX is cutting inpatient and orthopedic services. All told, according to a new report from Becker’s CFO Report, as of June 30 there are 42 U.S. hospital closing departments or otherwise ending services. While at least …
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It’s self-explanatory that high incidence of seasonal respiratory conditions and infections equate to higher patient volumes and related revenue. Consequently, overdependence on those levels to maintain financial viability is perilous, to say the least. While this is a concern in urgent care, in the retail drugstore business where over-the-counter remedies account for a significant portion of the profit margin, it can be a make-or-break proposition. Just look at what Walgreens is going through right now. …
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Urgent message: Urgent care centers play a vital role as a gateway into the health system for many children with acute care needs. Some of these needs require identification by the urgent care team, who may then need to stabilize the patient and initiate transfer to optimize clinical outcomes. Nikhil B. Shah, MD INTRODUCTION Pediatric office emergencies can be challenging for urgent care staff to manage. These high-stakes events do not occur frequently enough to …
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There are some holidays during which revelry is more likely to lead to a trip to the urgent care center or emergency room than others. You probably don’t need to prep your team for a flood of patients on Arbor Day, but Independence Day is another matter. Backyard barbecues where the beer is flowing and inattentive chefs are manning the grill, amateur firework displays, and too many hours baking in the sun can leave many …
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While it may sound like progress that the rate of new HIV infections fell by 12% between 2017 and 2021, as reported by the Journal of the American Medical Association that actually puts the United States behind its self-prescribed pace to achieve a 90% reduction by 2030. Testing for HIV, advances in treatment, and expanded use of preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) have all been cited as contributors to the downward trend. Logically, that would seem to …
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Twitter, Instagram, Facebook…all social media platforms, actually, tend to bring out their users’ most volatile tendencies. And the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to magnify the problem, according to the results of a survey published by JAMA Network Open. Pre-pandemic, one survey found that 23.3% of physicians reported being “attacked” on social media, most often due to views they expressed concerning firearms, vaccinations, and abortion access. Now, however, 88% of the 359 physicians who met the inclusion …
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