Practice Management
Vermont is aiming to lower incidence of opioid addiction by putting new restrictions on prescribers. For starters, the state health department has recommended limiting the number of opioid pills a doctor can prescribe; Gov. Peter Shumlin suggested 10 would be appropriate for patients undergoing minor procedures like those that might be performed in the urgent care setting, but the proposal currently on the table frames the amount as a “5-day supply for acute pain.” That …
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Vermont is going to try following Maryland’s lead by testing an all-payer reimbursement system for healthcare providers in 2017. Where Maryland’s long-held policy covers only hospitals, though, Vermont plans to use an accountable care organization (ACO)-type structure to cover all providers, regardless of setting (including urgent care). All-payer systems require all insurers, whether private, Medicare, or Medicaid, to pay similar rates for services. The goal is to increase the quality of care while decreasing the …
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URGENT MESSAGE: Urgent care centers are subject to myriad oversight by individual states, accrediting bodies, Medicare/Medicaid, and private insurance companies. Still, the patchwork nature of state regulatory and legislative trends impacting urgent care in 2015 raises questions—and expectations—for what might be coming next year. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine, a member of the Board of Directors of the Urgent Care Association, and Vice President …
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