Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Making the Most of Locum Tenens in Your Urgent Care

Urgent message: Despite the best staff planning, urgent care centers sometimes need to turn to locum tenens firms to fill the “bench.” Understanding the challenges these firms face is one key to success. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc, Experity Regardless of how aesthetically pleasing an urgent care facility, how convenient its hours, how creative its marketing, or how sophisticated its technology, the ultimate “product” is its clinicians and the solutions they provide for patients’ immediate …

Developing Data: November, 2012

These data from the 2010 Urgent Care Benchmarking Survey are based on responses of 1,691 US urgent care centers; 32% were UCAOA members. The survey was limited to “full-fledged urgent care centers” accepting walk-ins during all hours of operation; having a licensed provider and x-ray and lab equipment onsite; the ability to administer IV fluids and perform minor procedures; and having minimal business hours of seven days per week, four hours per day. In this …

Fracture Care, Laceration Kits, Reimbursement for Extended Hours

DAVID STERN, MD (Practice Velocity) Q. When is it appropriate to use fracture codes without manipulation? If a patient comes in with pain in a finger after a fall and an E/M is performed, x-rays are taken to confirm a fracture, the finger is splinted and the patient is referred to an orthopedist, would that treatment constitute billing for initial care? If not, what must we do to be able to bill these? A. CPT …

What You Don’t Know

JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP In the late 1970s I read a book by Samuel Shem called The House of God. The book is about an intern in a New York hospital during his first year of residency. His senior resident, “The Fat Man,” coins a number of laws about surviving residency. One of them—“If you don’t take a temperature you can’t find a fever”—can be extrapolated to all sorts of questions, tests, and …

Wear Your Brand: Increasing Awareness of Your Urgent Care Center

Urgent message: An urgent care entrepreneur is the “product” and must become skilled at promoting him/herself. When you “wear your brand,” you call attention to what you have to offer, generating awareness of an interest in your urgent care center. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc, ExperityOn a recent visit to a popular bakery-café, I noticed a young woman on the sofa working on her laptop. For passersby, there was no question about which candidate would …

Hiring As If Your Patients’ Health and Satisfaction Depended Upon It

Urgent message: Hiring the right candidate for a job at an urgent care center is an art and a science, but a variety of tools exist to facilitate the process. WILLIAM MARTY MARTIN, PSYD, MPH, MA, MS This article is designed to equip urgent care clinic owners with the tools they need to hire better than they have in the past. After reading it, you will be able to: (1) organize your hiring process around …

Developing Data: October, 2012

These data form the 2010 Urgent Care Benchmarking Survey are based on responses of 1,691 US urgent care centers; 32% were UCAOA members. The survey was limited to “full-fledged urgent care centers” accepting walk-ins during all hours of operation; having a licensed provider and x-ray and lab equipment onsite; the ability to administer IV fluids and perform minor procedures; and having minimal business hours of seven days per week, four hours per day. In this …

Tetanus Code Change, Coding Injections and Infusions, Facility and After Hours Codes

DAVID STERN, MD (Practice Velocity) Q. What codes should we use in place of the discontinued 90701 (tetanus vaccines, diphtheria, tetanus toxoids, and whole cell pertussis vaccine [DTP], for intramuscular use) and 90718 (tetanus and diphtheria toxoids [Td] absorbed when administered to individuals 7 years or older, for intramuscular use) that were discontinued effective July 1, 2012? A. You should use 90714 (Tetanus and diphtheria toxoids [Td] absorbed, preservative free, for use in individuals 7 …

What Does Obamacare Mean for the Urgent Care Industry?

JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the majority, published the Supreme Court’s decision in National Federation of Independent Business v Sebelius on June 28, 2012. With a few exceptions, the decision upheld the bulk of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), also known as Obamacare. In the next few paragraphs I will attempt to make some sense out of the ruling and how, if applicable, it applies to …

Practice Management