Occupational Medicine

Urgent message: One of the occupational medicine provider’s most difficult challenges is when a patient with a work-related injury or illness is judged ready to return to full duty, but the patient resists going back to work. Max Lebow, MD, MPH, FACEP, FACPM INTRODUCTION This article will address the problem of difficult-to-discharge patients who resist returning to full duty when their work-related injury/illness has resolved. We will discuss the process of early identification of work-reluctant patients while monitoring them through the treatment process, and identify ways to return patients to …
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Max Lebow, MD, MPH, FACEP, FACPM   Urgent message: Every medical practice follows certain key performance indicators. Here, we offer 15 that are essential to running a profitable occupational medicine business within an urgent care operation. There are a number of important key performance indicators (KPIs) that every urgent care, or any medical practice, follows—the most important being the bank balance at the end of the month. Most also follow basic practice measures such as total patient volume, accounts receivable, and aging reports. While most urgent care practices that offer …
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Urgent message: It’s the aim of every occupational medicine sales and marketing team to get prospective clients’ attention, and ultimately to secure the business. It’s what happens after that, however, that keeps clients happy (and encourages them to remain clients). Max Lebow, MD, MPH, FACEP, FACPM Preparation Before the First Employee Visit Employers come to select a particular occupational medicine practice through a number of different routes. Whether businesses hear about your services through your marketing and advertising, word-of-mouth of other employers, or from adjusters or insurance companies, however, they’re …
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Max Lebow, MD, MPH, FACEP, FACPM Urgent message: A thorough, occupational medicine-specific history is essential to identifying and resolving work-related injuries and illnesses quickly and safely—for the benefit of the patient and the employer. Like any medical history, the occupational medicine history is meant to guide the clinician to the proper diagnosis and treatment for the patient. However, it is set apart from the “typical” history in that several other goals must be achieved in the process. Not only are the duties and responsibilities of the occupational primary treating physician …
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Misunderstanding Occupational Medicine Services ‘Protocols’  Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine.  Urgent message: Urgent care owners should be aware of the misuse of the term “protocol” and the scope of employers’ directions concerning the processing of employees in their centers. In addition, urgent care owners need to be diligent when they believe that one of their clients is attempting to override the course of medical treatment for an employee.  The discipline …
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