Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Do ‘Small-Scale’ Mergers Add Up to Medical Monopolies?

The ongoing growth of the urgent care industry despite naysayers and a challenging payer landscape speaks to the commitment of individual physician owners who recognized the benefit of a different approach to practicing medicine—for themselves and for the patient. As we’ve mentioned here, one recent trend has seen hospital systems gobbling up individually owned urgent care operations. While the government keeps fairly close watch on mega mergers—sometimes blocking them in the interest of protecting an …

Smartphone Diagnostics Could Make Telemedicine, Lab Testing More Accessible

Telemedicine is gaining traction in many walks of medicine, though some providers still may be concerned they don’t know how to get started. In addition, many practices are looking at ways to offer more tests on site. The next wave of smartphone capabilities could be the next step forward in both respects. Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a device capable of processing samples of blood, saliva, or urine remotely using the light …

Malpractice Magnets—and How to See Them Coming

The best indicator of whether a physician is likely to have a malpractice claim made against him—yes, they are disproportionately male—appears to be whether a previous claim has ever been made. In fact, researchers at Stanford report that 1% of doctors are linked to nearly 33% of all paid General surgeons are among the doctors most likely to be the subjects of paid malpractice claims. Further, that group appears to share some distinct characteristics. In …