Practice Management
A new patient—a 45-year-old man who says he’s been plagued by midfoot pain for several weeks—presents to your urgent care center. The foot is normal in appearance, but it is evident that the patient has pain palpation over the midfoot. There is no pain with palpation over the plantar aspect. Skin does not show signs of infection. The neurovascular status is intact. View the image taken and consider your next steps, along with possible diagnoses.
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Case A 28-year-old woman presents to urgent care with elbow pain and swelling following a mechanical fall. She reports the pain is worse with range of motion. There is no shoulder or wrist pain, and no paresthesias. Exam confirms pain with palpation and decreased range of motion. The radial pulse is 2+; sensation distal to the elbow is grossly intact. The patient is afebrile, has a pulse of 104, respirations 20, and BP 124/80. View …
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Urgent care operators who have adopted digital radiography (DR) will tell you it’s cheaper to maintain, less cumbersome to operate, and overall just more efficient to use than old-school analog x-ray systems. Now you can add Medicare to DR’s proponents—and they’re putting your money where their mouth is. Come 2017, Medicare will start reducing payments for exams performed on analog x-ray systems by 20%. Starting in 2018, urgent care centers using computed radiography (CR) will …
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Teleradiology Specialists, which set its sights on the urgent care market early on, predicts a rapid increase in volume and market share on the heels of completing a record number of reads last month. The company completed 40% more reads compared with January of last year. At least some of the growth was fueled by adding 52 locations to the facilities for which it provides over-read, PACS technology, and consulting services. Urgent care is a …
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