Documentation Excellence

Documentation Excellence: The Trifecta

Brad Laymon, PA In the dynamic environment of urgent care (UC) medicine, precise, and thorough documentation serves as a cornerstone for both clinical and operational success. Beyond merely fulfilling regulatory requirements, documentation excellence has 3 critical functions, which I refer to as the “trifecta:” 1. Improved patient outcomes through clear communication of care; 2. Mitigation of malpractice risk through clear and defensible explanation of medical decision making (MDM); and 3. Accurate description of complexity to allow for appropriate medical coding. By addressing these 3 distinct functions of the medical record, …
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A Day Without Urgent Care

Are We Ready for a Day Without Urgent Care?

Rajesh Geria, MD; Patrick O’Malley, MD Every year, our nation’s 14,000 urgent care (UC) clinics care for nearly 206 million patients, equating to 564,383 patients every day across the country.[1] Imagine what would happen if there was no urgent care for just a single day. Now imagine that if that possibility lasted not just a day, but indefinitely. Unfortunately, many communities are at risk for this reality coming to pass. Decreasing reimbursement, clinician burnout, and administrative burdens make keeping the doors of UC centers increasingly challenging. Our healthcare system narrowly …
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Clinicians on Social Media

Practical Advice for Clinicians on Interfacing with Social Media

Did you know the average person spends over 2 hours on social media every day?[1] While it’s clear that social media is here to stay, the impacts of social media trends on clinicians and patients alike is probably less apparent to you—but it is undoubtedly the reality we face. Today, 8 in 10 internet users search for health information online,[2] and 74% of these people use social media.[3] Perhaps more surprisingly, in a 2023 survey, 57% of physicians admitted to changing their perceptions of a medication or treatment based on …
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Emergency Preparedness

Expecting the Unexpected: Emergency Preparedness in the Urgent Care Setting

Lyndsie Watkins, PA-C, FCUCM Lyndsie Watkins, PA-C, FCUCM, is lead PA for Northwell Health GoHealth Urgent Care East Region, a director of its fellowship program, and co-director of the GoPrepare emergency preparedness programing. Picture this: It’s a busy day in your urgent care (UC). You’re moving along steadily, seeing patients back-to-back. Unexpectedly, there is a commotion as a woman is brought in from the neighborhood right in front of the building. She appears unconscious, and you notice her staggard breathing. No one seems to know what happened prior to finding …
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climate change crisis

It’s Time for Us to Get Involved

Roger Hicks, MD I live in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in Northern California, where, like numerous other parts of the world, extreme weather events are becoming increasingly routine occurrences. The “hot days” are hotter and more abundant, and the droughts are more severe. In turn, this has precipitated more wildfires, which lead to problematic smoke and hazardous air quality. When I opened my urgent care (UC) clinic 24 years ago, I never thought that I would be caring for climate change refugees, yet that is exactly what happened …
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