Telehealth

One of the fears about use of telemedicine in urgent care is that providers might be inclined to overprescribe antibiotics, thereby stoking the already-dangerous trend of antimicrobial resistance. However, a new study conducted at Children’s National Hospital and published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine suggests that telehealth could actually help improve antibiotic stewardship. The study reflected 55,000 visits to a single hospital in 2018. Researchers tracked prescribing for bronchitis, sinusitis, pharyngitis, and upper …

Adoption of telemedicine has been a controversial subject in urgent care. While some operators have seen its benefits by way of increasing access for patients—and, over the past few months, in reducing risk of COVID-19 transmission—others have expressed concern that patients may “self-diagnose” and demand prescriptions without the benefit of a full examination. Whichever camp you fall into, be aware that even emergency rooms are now experimenting with virtual care. Tenet Health Central Coast in …

Many urgent care operators who couldn’t see the value in offering telemedicine services when patients could visit them on site at-will have changed their thinking since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. Too many patients decided they could wait, or forego care completely, rather than take what they saw as a risk in visiting a healthcare facility. As it turned out, telemedicine gave those operators a chance to stay connected with patients and provide care where …

If you’ve been following JUCM News or the “snapshot” surveys the Urgent Care Association has been conducting, you know that urgent care operators have been trying out telemedicine in greater numbers since the pandemic took hold in the U.S. The whole concept was new for many patients, as well—but according to a study by Accenture at least 60% of patients who have used virtual care tools recently say they would like to use technology to …

Unfounded or not, fear of visiting healthcare facilities (including urgent care centers) has resulted in many patients forgoing care during the COVID-19 crisis. However, the pandemic has also resulted in growing reliance on telemedicine—and, not coincidentally, in employment of telemedicine services among urgent care operators. A survey of 1,800 patients conducted by Doctor.com and published in the journal Patient Care revealed what moves patients to choose telemedicine for a given complaint, but also their preferences …

The challenge of keeping patients who could be highly contagious with a potentially deadly infection out of your facility, while still providing care for them is one of the greatest challenges facing many urgent care facilities during the COVID-19 crisis. Some who never saw the utility of telehealth are now using it as a screening tool, however. One Chicago-based ER doc who is also heavily involved in urgent care has pulled several 12-hour telehealth shifts …

It’s typical at some point during the flu season for hospitals to re-emphasize that patients should consider going to an urgent care center if they have symptoms of influenza, reserving the ED for truly emergent cases. The COVID-19 pandemic is taking that dynamic to a whole new level, as urgent care centers themselves are wrestling with ways to provide care without inviting in highly contagious people. This begs the question, is this crisis telemedicine’s time …

Patients and insurers were quick to sing the praises of telehealth due to its convenience and relatively low cost. Healthcare providers and facilities have continued to be skeptical, however, given the dearth of evidence that it’s a safe way to assess and treat patients while bringing in adequate revenue. While those arguments have scared many urgent care operators away from giving it a try, mounting evidence that telehealth can work might start changing some minds. …