Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Five Federal Employment Regulations Urgent Care Operators Need to Know (Part 2)

Urgent message: The second article in a two-part series looks at USERRA, FMLA, and NLRA—three federal labor laws that urgent care operators are likely to encounter. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc Practice Velocity Case Record Urgent care centers are subject to a multitude of federal employment regulations and failure to comply with any of them could result in civil litigation or criminal penalties. Laws prohibiting discrimination, regulating wages and hours, permitting leave for military service …

Five Federal Employment Regulations Urgent Care Operators Need to Know (Part 1)

Urgent message: As employers and managers of people, urgent care operators are likely to encounter situations that invoke federal labor laws. ALAN A. AYERS, MBA, MAcc, Experity Urgent care centers are subject to a multitude of federal employment regulations and failure to comply with any of them could result in civil litigation or criminal penalties. Laws prohibiting discrimination, regulating wages and hours, permitting leave for military service and family or personal health issues, and affecting …

Workplace Gossip in Urgent Care: The Impact of Toxic Talk

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 …

The Role of Urgent Care Centers in Regional Acute Coronary Syndrome Care

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 …

Public Relations in Urgent Care: A Step-by-Step Plan for Success

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 …

Understanding Your Cost Per Patient

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, …

Enhancing Profits with Travel Health Care

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 …

Telemedicine’s Impact on Urgent Care: What You Need to Know

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 …

Workplace Bullying and its Costs to the Urgent Care Operation

Urgent message: More than one third of U.S. employees say they have been bullied in the workplace. Does your practice have a policy in place to thwart this insidious problem? If not, it should. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MACC What is the Difference Between Diversity and Tolerance? According to one definition, diversity is anything that makes you different while tolerance is not persecuting people who are different. Many urgent care operations strive for a unified …

Buy or Lease Your Next Urgent Care Site?

Urgent message: After location, how to pay for an urgent care site is crucial to your success. Here’s how to think it through. MICHAEL ZELNIK, CCIM Once you’ve found the right location for your next urgent care (see An Urgent Care Site That Maximizes Revenue, JUCM, September 2011), your focus can turn to analyzing the risks and benefits of leasing or purchasing property in the trade area you’ve identified. This analysis should be more than …