Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Breakthrough COVID Infection in a Vaccinated person from a Possible Vaccinated Exposure

Sergio Ramoa MD, MS Urgent Message: With variant COVID-19 mutations, incomplete herd immunity, and less restrictive government regulatory statues, it is important to remain vigilant with continued testing and prevention even with a full vaccinated history. Introduction In the United States, cases of COVID-19 have passed 32,000,000 and 570,000 for deaths. 141,000,000 cases and 3,000,000 deaths have afflicted the world. Approximately 9.6% of infected individuals are hospitalized and a majority have mild to moderate symptoms.1 …

The Dangers of Mistaking Metrics for Strategy

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. Urgent message: While metrics are essential for measuring a business strategy’s effectiveness, losing sight of the strategy in favor of a sole focus on the metrics carries the risk of undermining the very objective the strategy was meant to achieve. “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” Or …

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 …

Use Digital Marketing and Social Media to Attract and Engage New Urgent Care Patients

URGENT MESSAGE: A seismic shift away from traditional marketing toward digital media and popular consumer social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube has led most medical practices to focus on attracting and engaging both current and new patients via the internet. Urgent care practices, often the best-kept secrets in their communities, now have an unprecedented opportunity for growth using digital marketing and social media to their advantage. Parham Javaherian, MBA, is Chief Executive …

Local SEO Matters!

URGENT MESSAGE: Mobile devices have gone from a convenience to a link between an individual and practically every facet of life—work, entertainment, and even healthcare. If you want them to help lead patients right to your door, you’ve got to ensure you’re linked in to search engines that employ location-enabled technology. Drew Reitzel is a partner in Sprout Marketing Group in Orlando, FL. Introduction In the ever-changing world of search engine optimization (SEO), local search …

To See a Brighter Future, Take Off Your Blinders!

URGENT MESSAGE: Ongoing success requires that the urgent care operator keep his or her eyes open for opportunities to improve the patient experience. The challenge is that the operator can become desensitized by what he/she sees every day. In this guest blog, Lou Ellen Horwitz explains that effective operators must “take their blinders off” in order to experience the operation the way patients do. Lou Ellen Horwitz is Director of Learning at Seattle-based Immediate Clinic. …

Concussion Care Adds Value to an Urgent Care Sports, Camp, and School Physical Program

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc, is Practice Management Editor for JUCM—The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine, a Board Director for the Urgent Care Association of America, and Vice President of Strategic Initiatives with Experity. Urgent message: Many urgent care centers have embraced school, sports, and camp physicals as a way to raise awareness of their services among athletic directors, coaches, trainers, and parents of high school and middle school students. Because of the increasing attention …

Pharmacists With Prescribing Privileges: A New Class of Medical Practitioner

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc, is Practice Management Editor for JUCM, serves on the board of directors of the Urgent Care Association of America, and is Vice-President of Strategic Initiatives for Experity. Urgent message: State boards of pharmacy, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, and large national drugstore chains are pushing for regulatory changes that would enable pharmacists to diagnose medical conditions and prescribe a range of medications, creating a new class of health-care …

The Great Flu Shot Conundrum

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc, is Practice Management Editor for JUCM, serves on the Board Directors of the Urgent Care Association of America, and is Vice-President of Strategic Initiatives for Experity. Urgent Message: Flu shots decrease health-care expenses, workplace absenteeism, and lost productivity, so why do most insurers not cover their cost when patients get the shots at urgent care centers? It is time for this practice to change. According to the U.S. Centers for …

Is It Measles or Something Else?

Urgent message: Although measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, outbreaks continue to occur, with unvaccinated travelers most often being the carriers and transmitting the disease to clusters of unvaccinated individual residents. Overview and Current Outbreak According to the World Health Organization, 145,700 people around the world died of measles in 2013, which equates to 400 deaths per day or 16 deaths per hour. Measles remains one of the leading causes of …