Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

U.S. Needs to Step Up Efforts to Track MRSA Cooperatively

Various bodies in the United States are devoting significant resources to tracking methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections. However, they’re doing so in “silos” with little coordination from one to the next, which is getting in the way of developing strategies to control the spread of MRSA, according to a report published in Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control. At least one of the organizations cited in the report for tracking and reporting MRSA infections, Tricare, which …

Private Equity Stake in Urgent Care Grows with CityMD Acquisition

Urgent care operator CityMD’s steady expansion in the New York metropolitan area has made it an appealing prospect for private equity, with Warburg Pincus LLC said to be putting down $600 million to bring it into its healthcare fold. CityMD has some 68 locations currently, after starting with a single New York City center in 2010. The company bought one of its competitors, Premier Care, but also built new locations as part of its growth …

How Colleagues Treat Each Other Affects Quality of Care—and Outcomes

Rude behavior in the workplace might cost you good employees. Even worse, though, a new study indicates the consequences of incivility extend to patients. In a blog post for The Wall Street Journal, Dr. Gurpreet Dhaliwal, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and a practicing physician at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, describes what happened when clinical staff participating in an Israeli training exercise were broken into 24 pairs …

Urgent Care is One Focus of New CMS Antibiotic Stewardship Initiative

As antibiotic resistance continues to grow, organizations from the Urgent Care Association of America to the Antibiotic Resistance Action Center to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have asked their audiences to take a close look at what they can do to curb unnecessary prescriptions that exacerbate the problem. (The cover article in the May issue of JUCM will look at how one institution tackled this problem, as well.) Now the Centers for Medicare …

Hospitals Try ‘Loss Leader’ Approach to Keep Patients Away from Urgent Care

Hospital operators like Mission Health System in North Carolina and Rush University Medical Center are trying a new approach to draw in patients off the street: offering urgent care at primary care prices. It seems to be working, too, as visits to other urgent care centers are down in the Asheville, NC area since Mission made their move. Mission My Care Now has opened four primary care locations that are open to walk-in patients beyond …

Michigan Blues Start Pushing Telemedicine

Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Michigan and Blue Care Network have apparently seen the light when it comes to the benefits of telemedicine. They’re working with physician groups on creating new financial incentives to expand member utilization. Seventeen groups, in fact, have already submitted telemedicine plans that could reap additional payments. Others are strategizing the best way to incorporate or expand telehealth offerings. BCBS says urgent care will figure prominently in its own efforts. …

‘Space for Lease’ Could be a Good Sign for Urgent Care

Downturns in other industries (remember video stores?) have proven to be golden opportunities for urgent care, as landlords eager to find solid customers have come to appreciate the industry’s stability. Now it appears that 10% of retail space may be up for grabs in the next few years, according to data from CoStar Group, thanks to the ever-growing popularity of online retailers. A fondness for take-out food is also hurting middle-of-the-road restaurants. Healthcare is practically …

Competitive Edge: The Importance of Taking Accurate Vitals

Urgent message: Recording thorough and accurate vital signs supports the urgent care physician in asking the right questions of the patient’s history of present illness, guides the physician in the physical exam, and thus is essential in reaching an accurate diagnosis and devising an effective treatment plan. Imagine you are a medical assistant on duty in a busy urgent care center. A patient walks in, and you check him in. You ask his height and …

Could Telehealth Be the Key to Urgent Care Realizing ‘Triple Aim?’

Urgent care has continued to grow based on its attributes of improving patients’ care experience at a lower cost than the emergency room, and by contributing to healthier populations—a triad of goals referred to as “triple aim.” Maintaining that growth may depend on outpacing other settings’ ability to change with the times. Twenty years since its inception—coinciding with urgent care’s own growth trajectory—telehealth may prove to be an invaluable tool in accomplishing that. One operator …

More Locations + More Patients = $15 Billion Urgent Care Marketplace

The urgent care industry has gone from upstart to “an established segment of the U.S. healthcare industry,” according to a new report from Kalorama Information, which put the overall value of the market at $15 billion. Even better, Kalorama predicts it will continue to grow annually through at least 2021. Over that time, cold, flu, and sore throat will continue to be the primary complaints that drive patients to seek urgent care, followed by lacerations, …