Practice Management
The “ayes” had it as Congress approved a three-year pilot program that waives preauthorization for Tricare beneficiaries who want to visit an urgent care center. Tricare provides civilian health benefits for military personnel, military retirees, and their dependents. Part of the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, the program will take effect six months after President Obama signs the bill (S. 1356) into law. At the end of year 1 of the pilot, the …
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Investing in the growth of the retail health segment continues to be a hit-or-miss proposition for major chains around the country. While Walmart is hoping it won’t strike out with its third iteration of a clinic offering, Safeway is pulling the plug on plans to offer “upscale” clinical services—the keystone of which would have been a vendor’s blood analyzer—in 800 stores. Safeway spent around $350 million to build the clinics, hoping the blood tests produced …
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Undocumented immigrants who stopped showing up at urgent care centers after receiving health insurance under the Affordable Care Act may be back the next time they’re injured on the job or a child spikes a fever. Roughly 423,000 of those newly insured lost their coverage due to a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) policy requiring proper documentation of immigration status or income within 95 days of getting coverage. Urgent care has been a …
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Humana’s plan to lower the number of elderly patients who seek care in the emergency room could end up costing urgent care centers. The company is testing a telehealth program that encourages Medicare Advantage enrollees to try “virtual” visits for relatively minor complaints before they head to the hospital. On-call clinicians would have access to the patient’s medical history and the authority to direct the patient’s care (which could still entail a trip to the …
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URGENT MESSAGE: Effective October 1, 2015, businesses that accept credit and debit cards can be responsible for fraud charges if they do not implement technology that reads the microchip-enabled cards now being issued by banks. Urgent care operators should work with their credit card processors to assure compliance through use of upgraded equipment that is compatible with their practice management systems. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent …
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Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) is doubling down on its stake in the Las Vegas healthcare market by buying 14 urgent care centers owned there by Urgent Care Extra. The deal includes six more urgent care centers currently under development in Nevada. HCA already has four hospitals and four surgery centers in the area by virtue of owning Sunrise Health Systems. Based in Nashville, TN, HCA now operates 65 urgent care centers in 20 states, …
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Two weeks ago, we told you visits to urgent care centers were expected to approach 177 million visits this year. Now we learn those visits are fueling economic growth that will carry the urgent care market’s value to $30.5 billion by the end of 2020, according to Transparency Market Research (TMR), a global market intelligence company. TMR says urgent care’s typically lower cost vs the emergency room and growing number of locations make it an …
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Urgent care centers in New York State are being tasked with additional measures to ensure patients understand the costs of treatment. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman reached agreements with four New York urgent care centers this week to provide detailed information to consumers about health plan participation and in-network versus out-of-network coverage. It’s the first enforcement action of the state’s recently adopted “Surprise Bill Law,” enacted to protect consumers from unexpected medical billings and …
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In & Out Urgent Care in New Orleans is the latest urgent care center to enter the world of clinical trials. Partnering with a company called Urgent Care Clinical Trials, the center is studying treatment of shingles (herpes zoster). It’s the first trial the center has participated in. In addition to advancing the practice of urgent care and available remedies for disease states studied, participation in clinical trials can be a new source of revenue …
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URGENT MESSAGE: The proliferation of smartphone-accessible, on-demand healthcare services delivered to patient homes has received a lot of media coverage recently, but the “UBER” model is hardly a practical replacement for walk-in urgent care. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Vice President of Strategic Initiatives for Practice Velocity, Practice Management Editor for JUCM—The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Urgent Care Association of America. Uber is …
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