Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

What Did We Learn From the Change Healthcare Outage?

Phyllis Dobberstein, CPC, CPMA, CPCO, CEMC, CCC Nearly all of us in the healthcare ecosystem were impacted by the cyberattack on Change Healthcare in February that caused widespread network disruptions. Change Healthcare processes 15 billion healthcare transactions annually and is connected to one-third of patient medical records in the United States. More than 100 Change Healthcare applications across pharmacy, medical, dental, patient engagement, and payment services were affected by the disruptions. Months later, United Health Group …

The Urgent Need for STI Testing in Urgent Care Centers

Urgent Message: With STI rates rising, urgent care centers have a unique opportunity to address a pressing public health need and increase patient volumes and revenue by adding STI testing services. Citation: Ayers A. The Urgent Need for STI Testing in Urgent Care Centers. J Urgent Care Med. 2024; 18(10)39-42 Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 1 million sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are acquired every day.1 …

2024 Urgent Care’s Top 100 by Number of Locations

Alan Ayers, MBA, MAcc The following table summarizes the 100 largest urgent care operators by number of locations as of May 2024, based on data provided by National Urgent Care Realty and Experity. Because of the significant number of private operators that also operate facilities with hospital partners, this year’s list delineates the breakdown of health-system-affiliated locations. Data is reported by the parent entity as opposed to regional brands, partnerships, or affiliations. Of the nation’s …

Secret Sauce

Amazon. Dollar General. Berkshire Hathaway. JPMorgan Chase. Walgreens. Walmart (insert echo here). It’s been an interesting few years watching these giants try to do what you do. The biggest tragedy of all of this is the hundreds of millions of dollars that have been spent by these folks that could have been saved if someone on their end had simply picked up the phone and talked to one of us. No one called the Urgent …

Avoiding Common Pitfalls in Urgent Care Site Selection

Urgent Message: Location and accessibility are keys to success for any urgent care. Operators must avoid common pitfalls when evaluating a site for their next venture. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc, is President of Experity Consulting and is Senior Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. Citation: Ayers, A. Avoiding Common Pitfalls in Urgent Care Site Selection. J Urgent Care Med. 2024; 18(9): 22-25 Experience tells us that friendly service, competent providers, short wait …

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 …

Categorization of Codes Most Frequently Used in Urgent Care

International Classification of Disease (ICD) codes—maintained by the World Health Organization and published in the United States by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services—standardize the categorization and reporting of patient diagnoses. Currently, U.S. healthcare operators use the ICD-10 edition. The analysis above examines 2023 urgent care visits logged by users of Experity’s electronic medical record, revealing that 28,686 diagnosis codes were documented in urgent care patient medical records. While it’s logical to conclude …

Please Show Me That I’m Wrong

I like to think that I usually have a pretty good read on Urgent Care, but I am currently mystified by something and need your help. For as long as I can remember, everyone in Urgent Care has chanted a common refrain: “We need a seat at the table!” In the beginning, we were too small to make enough noise to be heard and way, way too tight on funds to even think about hiring …

What Does Unclaimed Property Mean for Urgent Care Providers?

Urgent Message: Undeliverable refunds of patient balances do not become property of the urgent care center, but rather, after effort to contact patients, must be turned over to the state. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc Citation: Ayers A. What Does Unclaimed Property Mean for Urgent Care Providers? J Urgent Care Med. 2024; 18(8):29-31 Urgent care centers frequently carry patient balances due to overpayment. This happens with co-pays, co-insurance, deductibles, or other out-of-pocket outlays when the …

Prescription Duration for Urgent Care Patients

Whereas primary care is focused on prevention and management of chronic conditions, urgent care has historically been defined as episodic treatment for non-acute or acutely rising conditions—which are not medical emergencies but generally call for evaluation within 24 hours. As such, it would be expected that urgent care providers would prescribe medications only for the duration of a current infection or until a patient can follow-up with a specialist or primary care physician, for example. …

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