Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Post-Visit Follow-up Calls: Improving Patient Satisfaction, Center Profitability and Clinical Outcomes

Urgent message: Call-backs within 24 to 48 hours of discharge can identify potential complications, ensure that instructions are followed, and reinforce a positive visit experience. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc, Experity Introduction Urgent care centers provide immediate medical attention to patients who feel their symptoms are too pressing to wait for an appointment with their primary care physician, but not serious enough to warrant a visit to the emergency room (ER). With extended night/weekend hours, …

Achieving Consistency and Scalability in Urgent Care Service Delivery

Urgent message: Investing time in designing repeatable processes and documentation can pay off in a more efficient, effective, and scalable urgent care operation. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc Practice Velocity Introduction Despite management’s best intentions to deliver extraordinary patient experiences, many times employees just don’t know what to do. Front-line staff members are often conflicted between “doing what’s right” for the business, avoiding management scrutiny, exerting extra unrewarded effort, and “doing what’s right” for the …

The New Normal of Medical Malpractice and How We Are Making it Worse

JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP I am tangentially involved in a medical malpractice suit in which the physician in question complied completely with the standard of care. Her documentation was great, her care exceptional, there was no discrepancy between her charting and the nurses’ charting, the doctor-to-doctor hand-off went well, and she communicated with the patient and family. Unfortunately, the ultimate patient outcome was horrible. In the aftermath, the physician was named in a …

Supervising Physician, Physician Rotation, Critical Care

DAVID STERN, MD (Practice Velocity) Q. Can a Physician Assistant (PA) bill a claim under a supervising physician even when the supervising physician is not physically present during the patient visit? A.A PA can render services when the physician is not on site. Incident-to billing (a specific CMS method for billing midlevel services with the physician as rendering provider) would never apply in this case. Services rendered in this situation should be billed with the …

Developing Data: October, 2013

These data from the 2012 Urgent Care Industry Benchmarking Study are based on a sample of 1,732 urgent care centers; 95.2% of the respondents were UCA members. Among other criteria, the study was limited to centers that have a licensed provider onsite at all times; have two or more exam rooms; typically are open 7 days/week, 4 hours/day, at least 3,000 hours/year; and treat patients of all ages (unless specifically a pediatric urgent care). In …

Market-Driven, Performance- Based Physician Compensation in Urgent Care

Urgent message: Determining compensation for urgent care physicians is a challenge, particularly given the current health care environment. This article provides guidelines for achieving fair compensation based on reliable metrics and objectivity. RICHARD M. CAMERON, MHSA, CMPE and RICK E. WEYMIER, MBA, FACMPE Introduction Physician compensation presents one of the greatest challenges to the success of an urgent care practice because it has an impact on practice culture, physician interelationships, and the ability to attract …

Commercial Motor Vehicle Medical Examinations – Act Now to Participate!

JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP This is not the call you want to receive. “Dr. Shufeldt, one of urgent care centers your group just purchased was named in a multimillion dollar suit. The allegation is that one of the center’s providers performed a DOT physical on a driver who was reportedly overweight, had Type II diabetes, had hypertension and undiagnosed sleep apnea. While driving, he fell asleep, crossed the median and a struck a …

Preventive Medicine, Preventive Medicine Counseling

DAVID STERN, MD (Practice Velocity) Q. How do you code for a Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) screening visit in a patient who has no symptoms? Can you use a preventive medicine code (99387-99397) and still receive reimbursement? A.You would code based on the service provided. If you performed a physical and collected the specimen to send to the lab, then you would bill the appropriate preventive medicine Evaluation and Management (E/M) code. If the only …

Developing Data: September, 2013

Creating Value By Adding Physical Therapy to Urgent Care – PART II: Tactical Considerations

Urgent message: Part 1 of this article, in the June issue, looked at initial considerations for enhancing urgent care profitability by providing physical therapy services. In Part 2, the authors address tactical considerations, from revenue to staffing models. LAUREL STOIMENOFF, PT and HILARY HELLMAN, SLP Babe Ruth said, “Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.” Consumers have gravitated to ondemand medical services and the market has responded. Urgent care centers now face competition, not only …