Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Medical Professional Liability Insurance: Limiting Cost While Maximizing Value

Urgent message: Liability insurance premiums continue to rise across the spectrum of medical practice environments. Urgent care practitioners can maximize the value of every premium dollar spent by understanding whom and what the policy actually covers. Terrence P. Coughlin, CPCU, ARM, AIC One of the more important andcostly aspects of running an urgent care center is the insurance coverage needed to protect the center and the medical staff working there. In recent years, all medical …

Emergencies in the Office: Why Are 911 Calls Placed From Family Medicine and Urgent Care Offices?

Urgent message: New data indicate that calls to 911 from family medicine and urgent care offices and subsequent transport to ED occur for a wide range of reasons, with the distribution varying to a large degree based on the age of the patient and the practice setting. Introduction Life-threatening emergencies have been reported to occur in primary care medical offices.1,2 However, the type of medical emergencies that occur remains unclear. Previous studies that have attempted …

Managing Your Practice, Caring for Your Patients

Urgent message: The challenge of running a successful business can be daunting for any entrepreneur. It’s especially tough when your first priority is maintaining excellence as a clinician. The right approach to financial issues can help your business run smoothly—and profitably—while allowing you to focus on caring for patients. Ask an urgent care physician-owner what the biggest financial obstacle he or she faces is and the answer is likely to be “declining reimbursements.” But what …

Managing Your Practice, Caring for Your Patients

Urgent message: The challenge of running a successful business can be daunting for any entrepreneur. It’s especially tough when your first priority is maintaining excellence as a clinician. The right approach to financial issues can help your business run smoothly—and profitably—while allowing you to focus on caring for patients. Kevin J. Ralofsky, MBA, Founder of MedCapital and Treasurer of the Urgent Care Association of America Ask an urgent care physician-owner what the biggest financial obstacle …

The Emergence of Retail Clinics

Urgent message: Retail-based healthcare clinics are a growing phenomenon. A report from the California HealthCare Foundation, excerpted here, says public perception is split, and their economic viability remains to be seen. How do their services stack up against those offered by urgent care? The first in-store clinics appeared in 2000 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul (MN) metropolitan area and were operated by QuickMedx, which later became Minute- Clinic. The company’s founder, Rick Krieger, says the business …

The Emergence of Retail Clinics

Urgent message: Retail-based healthcare clinics are a growing phenomenon. A report from the California HealthCare Foundation, excerpted here, says public perception is split, and their economic viability remains to be seen. How do their services stack up against those offered by urgent care? The first in-store clinics appeared in 2000 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul (MN) metropolitan area and were operated by QuickMedx, which later became Minute-Clinic. The company’s founder, Rick Krieger, says the business idea …