Practice Management
Urgent message: Malicious gossip in an urgent care center can undermine trust, service, and teamwork. Knowing how to spot toxic talk is the first step to rooting it out before it takes hold. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc, Experity What’s the harm in a little workplace gossip? Well, consider what happens when a billing manager opines that an operations manager “slept” her way into a job. Or, when a new executive tells a staff member …
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Urgent message: Patients with chest pain/acute coronary syndrome often present in outpatient medical settings—including urgent care centers—not designed to treat life-threatening conditions. Exclusive new data suggest that urgent care centers need to be integrated into pre-hospital cardiovascular care pathways. JASON T. WEINGART, MD, THOMAS P. CARRIGAN, MD, MHSA, LEE RESNICK, MD, DANIEL ELLENBERGER, BS, DANIEL I. SIMON, MD, and RICHARD A. JOSEPHSON, MS, MD Emergency medical services and hospital-based emergency departments (EDs) are typically incorporated …
Read MoreThese data from the 2010 Urgent Care Survey are based on responses of 1,691 US urgent care centers; 32% were UCA 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 issue: …
Read MoreDAVID STERN, MD (Practice Velocity) Q. We have a patient with several lacerations to both of his hands. On his left hand, we sutured a total of three lacerations that have a grand total of 3.5 cm and on his right hand, we sutured on laceration with a total of 3.0 cm. What is the best way to code this? A. Assuming that all the procedures were simple wound repairs, you would simply add the …
Read MoreJOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP Maybe you read my columns in the two previous issues of JUCM and had a brief moment of self-awareness. Maybe one of your co-workers put them in your mailbox. Did you actually ask your co-workers and subordinates if you were the “cancer” I was talking about? They are not going to be honest. They care little about you and fear for their jobs, and so, are hardly going to …
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Urgent Message: Getting local media attention can drive patients to an urgent care center’s doors. Applying best PR practices can produce results and conserve marketing dollars. MARCIA HORN NOYES Despite the meteoric rise in urgent care center openings over the past decade, media outlets indicate that story pitches received from urgent care providers pale in comparison to those submitted by hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. Yet urgent care medicine remains fertile ground for quick and compelling …
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Urgent message: Assessing the true cost per patient is key to determining which pricing model will generate the most revenue for an urgent care center. JORDAN TODD RICE, MD A cost-per-patient analysis may not work for every urgent care center owner, but this article is intended to give JUCM readers the basic tools they need to understand the formulas. It can also serve as a baseline for discussions with urgent care center staff, executives, managers, …
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Urgent message: Adding travel health services to an urgent care center can increase a practice’s income and enhance its client base. LYNNE BUNNELL, RN Providing pre-travel health services in an urgent care clinic makes good business sense. The setting is natural to patients who want to be seen for care just days before leaving on a trip. It also works well for those who are more flexible in scheduling visits because their trips are planned …
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Urgent message: Telemedicine represents a new growth opportunity for urgent care centers that want to attract consumers looking for on-demand medicine. IAN VASQUEZ, MBA Urgent care providers are well positioned to take advantage of new market opportunities being driven by consumers and employers who increasingly look to the Internet for on-demand medicine. Telemedicine represents one such opportunity. This article will help you understand applications of telemedicine to urgent care and assess key risks and benefits …
Read MoreThese data from the 2010 Urgent Care Benchmarking Survey are based on responses of 1,691 US urgent care centers; 32% were UCA 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 …
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