Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

The Role of Urgent Care in an Integrated Care Delivery System: Insights from Kaiser Permanente

Urgent message: As the Affordable Care Act encourages greater integration of health insurers, hospitals, and physicians, urgent care will play an important role in increasing patient access, improving clinical outcomes and reducing health care costs. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc, Experity Hospitals across the country are partnering with doctors and health insurers—linked by an electronic health record (EHR)—to form accountable care organizations (ACOs) as a way to control health care expenditures by coordinating patient care. …

Head in the Game: Cultivating the Mindset of a Successful Urgent Care Operator

Urgent message: Just because you build it, patients won’t necessarily come. As entrepreneurs, successful urgent care center owners must market their services to the community, innovate with new services to fill excess capacity, and create positive patient experiences that spur repeat visits and positive word-of-mouth. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc Practice Velocity One needn’t look further than the 20,000+ physicians already practicing in urgent care centers nationwide to grasp just how attractive this business model …

Psychiatric treatment as an urgent care model

Urgent message: Offering mental health services in an urgent care setting could facilitate treatment for conditions such as depression and help eliminate the stigma associated with psychiatric care. Introduction Consumers value urgent care for its on-demand access to medical treatment without waiting to schedule a doctor’s appointment and for its cost savings over hospital emergency rooms (ERs). While urgent care centers have historically focused on treating coughs, sniffles, cuts, scrapes, sprains and strains, the convenience …

Expert Perspectives on Telemedicine in Urgent Care

Urgent message: Telemedicine—or “at-home” medicine—affords unique business opportunities to urgent care providers who can overcome barriers to adoption such as reimbursement. Introduction Telemedicine is a topic that frequently comes up among UCA’s membership as an area of interest. Some urgent care providers view telemedicine, or “at-home” medicine, as an opportunity; others see a threat. A lot of questions exist about telemedicine and with this roundtable, we’ve pulled together the unique experience of individuals who are …

An Urgent Care Operator’s Guide to Hiring and Managing a Lawyer

Urgent message: This article is a broad overview of how lawyers work and charge and what to do to avoid some of the most common pitfalls inherent in the attorney-client relationship. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc Practice Velocity Success in business entails being prepared and there will be times when it’s unavoidably necessary for you, the urgent care operator, to engage the services of an attorney. From structuring and starting up the business, to reviewing …

HIPAA for Urgent Care Centers: A Primer

Urgent message: This article discusses potential penalties for violations of HIPAA and key steps urgent care centers should take in order to avoid such penalties. BART WALKER and MEGGAN BUSHEE Complying with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) can be a daunting challenge for smaller providers. As the urgent care industry grows, its providers will become much more visible targets for scrutiny by the federal government with respect to HIPAA compliance. In addition, …

Marketing Strategies: School, Sports, and Camp Physicals

Urgent message: Sports physicals offered by an urgent care center can be a “win” for both the center and the community. The community gets a flexible source for a time-critical service and the center gets another way to attract new and repeat business. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc Practice Velocity Schools, camps, inter-league and club sports programs typically require a pre-participation physical examination to evaluate a participant’s general health, fitness level, risk of injury and …

Expert Perspectives on Grassroots Marketing in Urgent Care

Urgent message: Grassroots marketing tactics can be effective in engaging a center’s providers and staff with the communities they serve while also educating prospective patients about the availability of urgent care. Introduction This roundtable focuses on grassroots marketing for urgent care centers, which differs from traditional advertising in that it involves more interaction with prospective patients and requires a hands-on approach to building relationships and spurring word-of-mouth in the community. The panel of experts we’ve …

Understanding the Freestanding Emergency Department Phenomenon

Urgent message: FSEDs have a role to play in our health care system but it’s not to supplant urgent care centers. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc, Experity Introduction Freestanding emergency departments (FSEDs) are walk-in medical facilities—structurally separate and distinct from a hospital—that hold themselves out to provide emergency care to the general public. While they claim many similarities to hospital EDs—capabilities to diagnose and stabilize cardiac arrest, stroke symptoms, breathing problems and trauma—there are also …

Identifying Risks and Finding Shelter in an Urgent Care Compliance Program

Urgent message: The escalating pressure on the industry to decrease health care costs has resulted in an increase in audit activity from government and private payors for everything from billing and coding to HIPAA and kickbacks. Therefore, it’s more important than ever for urgent care centers to build a culture of compliance. DAMARIS L. MEDINA The health care industry is in the throes of a dynamic regulatory enforcement climate. Federal and state regulators and third-party …