Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Urgent Care Occupational Medicine Ensures Worker Safety

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently investigated a serious case of violations of worker safety standards that led to a 31-year-old factory employee who developed accelerated silicosis ultimately needing a double lung transplant. Other workers at the same home-products manufacturing facility in Chicago also reported unresolved lung disease from breathing silica dust, including severe illness that will require a lung transplant for at least one more employee in the future. Urgent care operators …

Telemedicine Enables Faster Testing for Bloodborne Pathogen Exposure

OSHA says employers have to evaluate for bloodborne pathogens immediately following possible exposure via needle-stick or specific eye, mouth, other mucous membrane, nonintact skin, or parenteral contact with blood. “Immediate” can be tricky on the jobsite or for first responders and clinical personnel, however, so U.S. HealthWorks is trying to facilitate faster access through a new telemedicine program. The company has an app that facilitates access at any time, any day and includes comprehensive medical …

Respirator Fit Exams Breathe New Life into Occ Med Urgent Care Offerings

Urgent Message: Urgent care centers that offer occupational medicine services play an important role in protecting the safety of the nation’s workforce. One such service—offering respiratory fit testing—constitutes an important element of that mission while also creating a distinct revenue stream. To truly maximize the potential of offering this valuable eservice, however, it is important to understand the OSHA regulations, secure proper equipment, and assure staff is properly trained to conduct respirator fit tests. Alan …

What Does a Trump Presidency Mean for Urgent Care Operators?

With a chief executive who’s used to being a CEO, what changes can urgent care operators expect in their role as employers once Donald Trump takes office in January? The law firm of Brennan, Manna & Diamond predicts a pro-employer climate overall in a Client Alert it issued this week, based partly on expected appointment of several Supreme Court justices likely to be more conservative than their retiring predecessors. That will be most evident in …

The Benefits of Near-Site vs Onsite Employee Clinics

There has been a push by some large, single-campus employers in recent years to develop onsite clinics for occupational medicine and health/wellness (including urgent and primary care). The typical model has employers paying all costs associated with the clinic, as well as a set fee to the management company. In an industrial setting where an RN can provide first aid for workplace injuries and track compliance towards OSHA regulations, the model can be justified. But in office settings …

New OSHA Initiative Seeks to Ease Reporting—of Injury and Violations

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) is launching a new program that aims to simplify reporting of work-related illness and injury, as well as offer more protection for whistleblowers. Most relevant to urgent care operators who provide occupational health services, OSHA will require all work-related injuries and illness to be reported through a new database as of January 1, 2017. The same level of information will still have to be filed annually, but the …

What Urgent Care Operators Need to Know About New OSHA Requirement

Some urgent care and occupational medicine providers have questions regarding the new OSHA requirement for Safety Data Sheets (SDS), effective June 1, 2016. Essentially, to be compliant you must: Make sure all of your Material Data Safety Sheets (MSDS) are replaced with Safety Data Sheets (SDS) Assure that all hazards in your urgent care center are labeled with the new pictograms Re-up any training you’ve provided employees on OSHA compliance OSHA requires that employers keep …