Practice Management
New York just became the latest state to grant full practicing authority to nurse practitioners—meaning, if you include the District of Columbia, that NPs now have this distinction in more than half of the United States plus the U.S. territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. According to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), full practice means that NPs are allowed to evaluate patients; diagnose, order, and interpret diagnostic tests; and initiate and …
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Barely a week into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, supply chain experts are warning that already-shaky delivery of essential goods from around the world—including just about everything you need in your supply room—is likely to get worse as the crisis wears on. An article just published by MedPageToday notes that the issue isn’t necessarily items sourced from Ukraine or being embargoed from Russia, but closed airspace corridors, disrupted shipping channels, and the ripple effects that emanate …
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New state-specific data show a mix of obstacles to efficient, cost-effective care in the emergency room. One study shows that some EDs are diverting more patients than ever before due to overcrowding, while another finds hundreds of millions of dollars of waste in the emergency setting. Is it any wonder patients are turning to their local urgent care centers in droves? The Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems reports that from 2013 to 2014, …
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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 …
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The arrest of a physician assistant on federal drug charges is a reminder that urgent care operators need to be vigilant for illegal prescribing practices or face the consequences. The PA, himself the operator of a pair of urgent care centers in Riverhead, NY, has been charged with conspiring to distribute oxycodone illegally. The US Justice Department, Drug Enforcement Administration, and local, county, and state law enforcement allege the PA issued prescriptions for thousands of …
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Luke Hart will share a “holistic perspective” on thriving in the urgent care marketplace during a live webinar hosted by the Urgent Care Association (UCA) Thursday, November 19 at 1 pm, Central. In Getting Out of Your Own Way—Learn to Manage and Lead Effectively, the former urgent care CEO will focus on implementable tools to help participants define and reshape operational structures, optimize staff communications, and devise a positive work environment. The cost is $50 …
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Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) is doubling down on its stake in the Las Vegas healthcare market by buying 14 urgent care centers owned there by Urgent Care Extra. The deal includes six more urgent care centers currently under development in Nevada. HCA already has four hospitals and four surgery centers in the area by virtue of owning Sunrise Health Systems. Based in Nashville, TN, HCA now operates 65 urgent care centers in 20 states, …
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When researchers at Entrepreneur magazine crunched the data in its Entrepreneur360 Performance Index, urgent care provider American Family Care (AFC) emerged as one of the top entrepreneurial companies in the U.S. The magazine cites AFC’s growth, sustainability, and ability to achieve lasting success for its inclusion in the list. AFC founder and CEO Bruce Irwin, MD says an entrepreneurial spirit is a “key facet” of the company, which tries to balance accelerating growth with a …
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Two weeks ago, we told you visits to urgent care centers were expected to approach 177 million visits this year. Now we learn those visits are fueling economic growth that will carry the urgent care market’s value to $30.5 billion by the end of 2020, according to Transparency Market Research (TMR), a global market intelligence company. TMR says urgent care’s typically lower cost vs the emergency room and growing number of locations make it an …
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Urgent care centers in New York State are being tasked with additional measures to ensure patients understand the costs of treatment. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman reached agreements with four New York urgent care centers this week to provide detailed information to consumers about health plan participation and in-network versus out-of-network coverage. It’s the first enforcement action of the state’s recently adopted “Surprise Bill Law,” enacted to protect consumers from unexpected medical billings and …
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