Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

The Life Cycle of Urgent Care Acquisitions

Urgent message: Urgent care’s success in delivering a retail healthcare experience has attracted the attention of private equity and hospital investors; understanding the deal timeline is an essential first step for an urgent care operator interested in buying or selling a business. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Vice President of Strategic Initiatives for Practice Velocity, LLC and Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. Introduction Urgent care centers are popular among …

New Urgent Care Models Help Cancer Patients

Urgent message: As the population ages, the healthcare system will be faced with a growing number of cancer patients who have unique care needs. Since typical hospital EDs are rarely equipped to capably and cost-effectively service cancer patients who present with timely medical issues, there remains a growing need for additional cancer-focused urgent care resources—an opportunity that urgent care operators and health systems would do well to capitalize on. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is …

Do You Understand the Three Different Reimbursement Methods for Urgent Care?

Urgent message: Payment models seem to evolve as quickly as the urgent care markets itself. Keeping up to speed is essential for continued growth in revenue—if not survival. Here, we weigh the relative merits of some of the most common reimbursement models. The way urgent care providers deliver healthcare continues to evolve, and with it the ways in which providers collect reimbursement for their services. To keep an urgent care practice financially healthy, it’s vital …

The Innovative Power of Criticism

The following summary of an article that appeared in the January-February 2016 issue of Harvard Business Review examines how the skillful application of the art of criticism can be more powerful than traditional ideation methods in taking products, services, and business models in new, profitable directions. As technology continues to rapidly transform healthcare, urgent care providers must familiarize themselves with methodologies they can employ in developing new value propositions towards growing their businesses. Powerful ideation …

Plague in the House—Could You Identify the Patient?

Urgent message: While common perceptions are that the plague—the infamous microorganism that claimed the lives of countless millions in ancient times—has been eradicated in modern society, infections still occur, even in the United States. While the odds of encountering a patient infected with the plague are thin, its presentation of flu-like symptoms—which could easily lead a patient to urgent care—make it a diagnosis urgent care providers should be aware of. Introduction Yersinia pestis—known commonly as …

Strategies for Managing Employee Burnout

Urgent message: Statistics indicate there is an epidemic of mental, physical, and emotional burnout of employees in the United States, painting a troubling picture that urgent care operators must proactively manage in order to assure continued patient satisfaction. Many of us have been there: getting out of bed in the morning feels like a monumental task. The thought of another work day evokes an exasperated sigh. Previously productive shifts give way to distracted clock-watching. Patience …

Dispelling Physician Myths About the Patient Experience

Urgent Message: As “influencers in chief” charged with assuring the types of patient experiences that create patient loyalty and word-of-mouth, urgent care providers must understand the relationship between patient experience metrics, financial and clinical outcomes, care team coordination, and time spent with the patient. As value-based reimbursement becomes more prevalent in healthcare, providers are increasingly tasked with not only ensuring a great clinical outcome, but a superior patient experience, as well. Industry research supports this …

Should Your Urgent Care Center Offer HIV Testing?

Urgent Message: To enable early detection and treatment to help curb future transmissions, CDC guidelines recommend HIV testing be available for patients in all healthcare settings, including urgent care centers. HIV testing can be a practical, profitable, public health service for urgent care centers. Many patients, especially millennials, rely on urgent care as their “provider of first choice.” These are patients who are generally healthy and have no chronic conditions requiring long-term management, but who …

Better Safe than Sorry: The Six Rs of Safe Injections

Urgent Message: While giving injections in urgent care may seem like a rote task, the significant safety risks of errors require that providers and staff pay special attention to the “Six Rs” when giving each and every injection. Unlike other service industries, when you ask people why they go into healthcare, the answer is typically “to help people.” Given your genuine and innate drive to improve the health and wellbeing of your patients, how awful …

Can Your Employees Really Speak Freely?

The following is a summary of an article originally published in the Harvard Business Review. It explores how, in many organizations, leaders who attempt to elicit honest employee feedback often fail in their attempts to create meaningful dialogue. Urgent care providers must realize they have an important stake in this issue, as research shows when employees can voice their concerns freely, organizations see increased retention and stronger performance. Most leaders will declare that they have …