Medical

No one ever wants to have to go to an urgent care center, but unfortunately, sometimes it’s unavoidable. If you take a fall and your ankle swells up or you spike a fever and can’t wait for an appointment with your primary care doctor, it’s better to seek treatment at an urgent care center than ignore your symptoms. In fact, urgent care centers handle approximately 89 million patient visits each year in the United States, according to the Urgent Care Association (UCA). Of course, it can be confusing to know where the best place to seek treatment might be. Fortunately, urgent care is usually the best place to go for unexpected medical problems.

Urgent Care vs. Emergency Room

“Urgent” and “Emergency” have very similar meanings, so it’s completely understandable that people might be unsure which place they are supposed to go to in the throes of an unexpected medical situation. However, there is a distinct difference between the two types of medical care, and it’s important to know the difference.

An urgent care center is used for patients who might not have health insurance or people who have sudden, non-life-threatening medical conditions that require treatment within 24 hours. These are places where you would go if you have an unexpected or sudden condition that you want to seek medical treatment for but you are not experiencing anything life-threatening. They are designed to treat minor illnesses or injuries, and most people end up there because their normal doctor’s office is not open or available. As of 2023, there are over 10,000 urgent care centers across the United States, reflecting a significant growth in recent years.

Emergency rooms are open all hours and are equipped to handle medical emergencies that are serious or critical. These are places where you might go if you have a serious injury that might require stitches, serious burns, or symptoms that could indicate a life-threatening condition. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were over 130 million emergency room visits in the U.S. in 2021. And it’s better safe than sorry—if you’re seriously questioning your symptoms and you’re worried that they might indicate something serious, the emergency room should be your next stop. They are staffed with professionals who can evaluate your symptoms and provide you with the care you need. It’s better to be told that you have nothing to worry about by a healthcare professional than minimize your symptoms, go to urgent care, and end up in a dangerous situation where you don’t get the help you need in time.

What’s Behind the Growth of Urgent Care Clinics?

There are two factors contributing to the growth of urgent care clinics, according to Medical Economics. One is that working in urgent care allows physicians to have a better work-life balance than when they run their own practices. More and more often, doctors are opting to work full-time in urgent care clinics rather than run their own practices and sacrifice valuable time with their families. In fact, employment in urgent care centers has increased by 9% annually since 2013, offering more flexible schedules for healthcare providers.

Additionally, urgent care clinics offer same-day treatment that often isn’t available through doctor’s offices. According to a 2022 survey by the UCA, 97% of urgent care patients reported being seen within 30 minutes, and 92% expressed satisfaction with their care. People are impatient and don’t want to wait for help—understandably—so often, people will choose to go to urgent care clinics rather than call and try to get an appointment with their primary care physician, which can sometimes take days or even weeks.

Pros and Cons of Urgent Care Clinics

Urgent care clinics are a critical part of the healthcare system. While regular check-ups are important preventative care, life happens! Sometimes you need to go to the doctor unexpectedly. However, urgent care visits shouldn’t replace your primary care doctor permanently. There are pros and cons to urgent care clinics, as there are with anything else.

Pros:

• Accessibility for All: Anyone can walk in and be seen, even without healthcare insurance. According to the UCA, 22% of patients who visit urgent care centers are uninsured, highlighting their accessibility.
• Extended Hours: Urgent care centers have extended hours. While not all are open 24 hours, 85% are open seven days a week, and many offer services beyond typical office hours.
• Shorter Wait Times: There is a lower wait time than in emergency rooms. The average wait time in an emergency room is about 2 hours, whereas 80% of patients at urgent care centers are seen within 15 minutes.
• On-Site Diagnostics: X-rays and lab testing are available. Many urgent care centers offer on-site diagnostics, with 70% providing X-ray services and 95% offering lab services.

Cons:

• Limited Time with Providers: Doctors don’t spend as much time with their patients in urgent care. Due to the high patient volume, visits can be brief, averaging about 15 minutes.
• Lack of Medical History Access: Your medical history won’t be available to the physician treating you. Without access to your full medical records, there might be gaps in care.
• Variable Staffing: Going to urgent care does not guarantee that you will see a doctor. You might see a physician assistant or nurse practitioner. According to the UCA, 13% of urgent care clinics are staffed solely by non-physician providers.

Mistakes to Avoid When Going to an Urgent Care Clinic

If you need to go to an urgent care clinic, there are a few things you should keep in mind.

1. Know What It Will Cost: While this hopefully will not prevent you from getting the care you need, there is typically a cost of going to urgent care, even if you have insurance. The average cost of an urgent care visit is around $150, whereas an emergency room visit can average over $1,300, according to a 2020 study by UnitedHealthcare. Particularly if you have a PPO health insurance plan, urgent care visits will likely have a higher copay than a standard doctor’s visit. However, they are still usually lower than the cost of going to the emergency room. Regardless, it’s good to be aware of what kind of cost you’re going to be looking at after a visit to the urgent care clinic.
2. Double-Check the Billing: Double-check that the urgent care center is actually urgent care. Some centers are billed like emergency rooms because they have an affiliation with a hospital. Before you sign in or consent to treatment, ask an employee if they bill like an urgent care center or an emergency room and make sure to get their name. If they bill like an emergency room, you might want to seek treatment elsewhere. Additionally, if you are billed as though you had an emergency room visit rather than an urgent care visit, you’ll be able to contest the charge if you can provide the employee’s name who told you differently.
3. Bring Your Information: Keep in mind that if you’re going to an urgent care center, your medical records will not be available. Make sure to bring any documentation or information you need to seek treatment or provide context for your symptoms.

No one ever wants to need to go to urgent care, but in the event that something unexpected happens, it’s better to have the option to go somewhere for quick and effective treatment. And in the midst of an unexpected medical problem, you don’t want to be wondering where to go or what to do. Being prepared and understanding the difference between emergency rooms and urgent care means you’ll be able to handle the situation effectively and get the medical care that meets your needs.

If you operate an Urgent Care Center and need help with accounts receivables, then contact a Collection Agency.

Most people who start medical practices are incredibly smart and well-educated. The problem is that chances are, they spent a lot more time in science classes in school than they did in business classes. When it comes to creating and growing a successful medical practice, a solid marketing plan is key. Marketing is as much an art as it is a science though so it may take some trial and error before you home in on the best marketing strategies for your business. If you follow these general tips though, you will be off to a great start.

Tip #1: You Need a Website

It is now the year 2020, which means the internet has been a huge part of all our lives for 25 years or more now. If you already have a great website for your practice, good job! You can skip ahead. If you do not have a solid website, what are you waiting for? 85% of consumers conduct online research before making a decision. If you don’t have a strong web presence, you are not capitalizing on an easy and efficient way to teach people about your business.

The best part about websites nowadays is how easy they are to start. If you have a little bit of computer-savvy, it is relatively easy to build a website yourself through companies like Wix or Squarespace. If you want some help on a budget, check out freelance websites like Fiverr or Upwork. Or, if you want the best of the best, it is easy to find skilled, professional companies who specialize in building business websites. There is no excuse for not having a website.

Tip #2: Learn the Letters SEO

Once you have a website, you need people to find it. As a doctor, you need not be a wiz at SEO however you should have a little bit idea so that so called SEO experts  who you will engage, do not fool you. Here is a very nice article, should not take 45 minutes to read: https://neilpatel.com/blog/simple-guide-to-seo/

The way people find things on the internet is through Google. There are over 3.5 billion searches on Google every day, which breaks down to 40,000 searches per second. During these searches, 90% of users stick to the first page of search results. 60% will only click the top two or three results. This means that it is so important to get your website to show up high on the first page when people search for keywords related to your practice. How do you do this? SEO. Get business listed on Google Maps and request positive reviews from patients.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing your website so when Google “crawls” your site to find out what it is about, the search engine believes that your site is reputable, high-quality, and offers value to people who are searching for terms related to your business. Your site needs to load fast, offer links to useful content and sites, and contain relevant content to your field. Having a helpful and interesting blog on your site is a great tool to help boost your SEO.

Tip #3: Get Social 

You may have heard that we are in the age of social media. This is just as true for businesses as it is for individuals. If you are not leveraging some form of social media for your practice, you are missing out. This is not to say you need to be on every social media platform all the time. On the contrary, using social media poorly can be just as bad as not using it at all. Think about what you want to use social media for and pick the platform or two that works best for your needs.

If you want to do targeted social media advertising or leverage word-of-mouth and positive reviews, Facebook may be the platform for you. If you want to connect with a professional referral network of other medical professionals and specialists, it may make sense to give LinkedIn a try. For a more top-line brand building experience, check out Instagram if you want to share stories and photos or Twitter if sharing tips and articles are more your thing.

Tip #4: Build Your Profiles 

In addition to websites, search engine positioning and social media, there are several online profiles you can create and keep up to date to make your online presence better. One best practice is to make sure you take advantage of Local Business listings in search engines like Google and others. This will help your practice show up in “near me” searches, which have grown over 500% in the last 2 years. Also, it is a great place to be able to track and manage patient reviews which are so important in driving business.

Creating and maintaining a profile on medical booking sites like Zocdoc, PatientPop, or Localmed or Opencare (both for dentists), will allow you to find patients who may not otherwise find your practice. Just be aware of what sorts of fees these sites charge and how they charge them before you sign up.

Technology is revolutionizing every aspect of our lives, and the medical industry is no different. Patients now not only expect to be able to use technology to handle their healthcare but they also expect the convenience of having their healthcare access at their fingertips.

Fortunately, this can be a major perk for healthcare professionals. In fact, using technology to engage patients is a fantastic way to incorporate these new digital tools into your practice. If you’re wondering how you can use these tools to enhance your patients’ experiences, look no further than these 5 methods.

1. Encourage Engagement Through an Online Health Portal

Patients are accustomed to getting everything online in this day and age. The fact that there are now methods of sharing their personal medical results easily and securely is a huge step forward for healthcare professionals. These online health portals mean patients will have their medical information at their fingertips. It gives them a place to pose questions for their doctors, review their test results, make appointments, or even look at resources for dealing with issues they might not be ready to address directly with their doctor yet. It’s a valuable asset to the patient experience and makes it that much more likely that patients will consistently address their healthcare needs.

2. Promote Patient Education

Using an online portal, you can provide valuable resources about sensitive topics or common questions. This gives your patients access to information that comes from a reliable source rather than the general internet, and provides them with answers to questions that they might not be ready to ask quite yet.

3. Provide Patient Health Data

Beyond delivering test results, doctors can use a patient portal to deliver a comprehensive look at the patient’s current health level. It can be a central hub that has multiple doctors feeding information into a single platform for the patient’s convenience. This helps provide them with a full assessment of their overall health and gives doctors the opportunity to learn more about their patients and possibly collaborate on treatment options.

4. Embrace Wearable Technology

For many patients, getting active is a key component of building a healthy lifestyle. Wearable technology now alerts patients more effectively about different aspects of their health, including how much they’ve moved that day, how long they have been sitting, and how many calories they may have burned overall. Wearable technology can be a huge asset to helping patients keep their doctor’s recommendations in mind on a day-to-day basis and give them a better chance of making long term lifestyle changes.

5. Better Patient Experience

The presence of an online portal shows patients that your office is committed to making their experience as quick and painless as possible. This will not only help you build a rapport with your patients, but it will also streamline some of the more inconvenient aspects of dealing with healthcare. This will make patients less likely to neglect their healthcare needs due to the inconvenient nature of scheduling appointments and dealing with paperwork.

Technology is the future and your patients expect you to move forward with the era. Patients now expect the convenience and ease that comes with online platforms, and the medical field is no exception. By utilizing all of the options that technology has to offer, you will be maximizing the relationship you can have with your patients and offering them above and beyond what you’ve been able to provide in the past. The opportunity that technology presents goes beyond general patient convenience. The ripple effect could certainly save lives.

For physicians and primary care doctors, treating patients who suffer from mental illness can be difficult. There is the fact that patients with mental health issues generally have more physical health problems than patients without. There are the side effects of prescribed mental health meds to deal with and coordination between the primary care physician and mental health specialists or emergency mental health care. Here is what you need to know as a physician or primary care doctor to help manage patients with serious mental illness.

Difficulties of Mentally ill Patients 

 The truth is, even for physicians and primary care doctors, dealing with mentally ill patients is just more difficult. Serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, nonaffective psychotic disorders, bipolar spectrum disorders, and others are diseases that affect over 13 million American adults. 

Patients who suffer from these types of mental illness are at a higher risk of mortality from both clinical disease and unnatural causes such as suicide, homicide, or accidents. Along with these elevated mortality risks, there also comes more chance to suffer from more common medical conditions like metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disease, chronic pulmonary disease, gastrointestinal disorders, and obesity. Because patients with mental illness also exhibit high rates of nonadherence to treatment makes treatment even more challenging.

Mentally Ill Patients and Meds 

As a physician or primary care doctor, you also have to be very aware of the medications your patients are taking to deal with their mental illness. Many of the meds come with an array of side effects that can be damaging to a patient’s physical health. For example, both first and second-generation antipsychotics have been linked with QT prolongation and second-generation antipsychotics can lead to obesity, hyperglycemia, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia.

In addition to the side effects of specific antipsychotic medications, many common medications that you may prescribe as a physician or primary care doctor can interact poorly with antipsychotics. When this happens, it can lead to all sorts of incredibly dangerous situations like cardiac arrhythmias, increased or decreased drug levels, toxicity, treatment failure, or even sudden death. 

The Key to Caring for Mentally ill Patients

With all the difficulties that come with treating a mentally ill patient and all the things that could go wrong, how can physicians and primary care doctors provide better care for mentally ill patients? It is all about communication and collaboration. Unfortunately, psychiatrists and emergency mental health professionals and facilities do not currently do a good job working together to coordinate mentally ill patients’ care.

According to a recent survey, only around 33% of primary care doctors were notified when a patient of theirs goes to an emergency room or is discharged from a hospital. This is not a great stat especially when you look at a country like the Netherlands, for example, where that number is more than double.

The best course of action, as the American Psychiatric Association recommends, is for physicians and psychiatrists to work together to manage medical issues. This is easier said than done and might require additional permissions from the patient to share notes, lists of medications, and hospitalization data but it is well worth it to provide more holistic care for mentally ill patients which will lead to better long-term outcomes.

Conclusion 

Until there is more teamwork across the healthcare industry that goes into caring for mentally ill patients, medical professionals in every field will struggle to provide the best care possible. Yes, there are a lot of challenges and roadblocks associated with doing this but the rewards for the patients are great. As a physician or primary care doctor, it is time to take the lead and start a conversation with mentally ill patients about collaborative care.

The trust between a patient and the people who provide their healthcare is vital to overall health. Negative experiences with healthcare professionals can prevent people from seeking treatment when they need it, which can lead to major health problems in the long run. In fact, many studies have shown that positive patient experiences correlate with clinical effectiveness and overall patient safety. This supports the case for focusing on creating a positive patient experience that builds rapport between the patient, their doctor, and the healthcare system as a whole.

A medical professional’s main goal should always be focused on providing the highest quality care and the best patient experiences, which in turn leads to patient retention. Fortunately, there are plenty of habits that you can implement within your office and staff protocols to reach these goals. We’ve outlined fourteen practices to improve patient retention below to revamp your practice and keep your patients coming back.

1. Make scheduling appointments easy.

For most people, making appointments is the worst part about going to the doctor. Calling, trying to get ahold of someone, figuring out if there are appointments available when the patient can go; all of it is very overwhelming. Making appointments easy to schedule, providing reminders, and being flexible with scheduling where possible will ensure that your patients don’t put off calling to schedule their appointment. You can also auto-schedule their next appointment so they don’t even have to think about it.

2. Make sure you have an up-to-date Google Business Listing.

Most people rely on Google Business Listings for your company information, hours, address, and phone number. If your Google Business Listing is out of date or non-existent, it’s going to make it difficult for patients to find you. To check this, do a quick search for your name or practice and make sure everything is accurate on the listing. If you’re not sure how to do this, you can find the instructions here.

3. Make appointments available outside of business hours.

Many people struggle to find time to go to the doctor because practice office hours coincide with normal business hours. While this might not be realistic for every day, offering at least some appointment times after hours will give your patients a little more flexibility for booking an appointment if taking time off of work isn’t an option.

4. Return phone calls.

Because medical practice hours are usually the same as regular business hours, people might call and leave messages after the office has closed. Making a point of returning those calls within 24 to 48 hours shows that you care about making sure that your patients are taken care of and getting what they need from their healthcare.

5. Prioritize customer service.

The healthcare system can be confusing and frustrating to navigate. It inevitably leads to frustration and confusion at some points during the patient experience. Making sure that your staff is trained and ready to effectively answer patient questions or concerns is a great way to streamline the patient experience altogether and show that you are a resource to your patients.

6. Always be respectful of your patients.

This goes without saying, but your patients should always feel respected and heard when dealing with your medical practice. From the person who checks them in for their appointment to the doctor that they work with, every step should be conducted to show the patient that they are in a place where they will be listened to and helped.

7. Train your team continuously.

Team training is critical overall, but providing refreshers and additional training on specialized situations can help your employees deal more efficiently and effectively with patient concerns.

8. Seek feedback from patients.

Giving your patients a platform to offer their feedback gives you an open channel to what they’re thinking. This way, you can address problem points in your practice and give your patients a safe space to be heard.

9. Offer additional information.

In some cases, patients might not be ready to take the next step forward in their treatment process, whether it’s consulting a professional or understanding some habits they can implement on their own to help themselves. For these situations, it’s good to have resources to give to the patients so they can investigate their options and think about their next steps before taking the plunge.

10. Pay attention to problems.

When you or your employees notice an ongoing problem, take the time to troubleshoot it and see how you can fix the issue. The same goes for patient feedback. It does you no good to know what frustrates patients if you don’t do anything to fix it.

11. Anticipate obstacles.

As a medical professional, you are more likely to know if there’s a policy or insurance change that will cause confusion or difficulties for your patients. When you see these potential obstacles, do your best to streamline the coping process, either by developing resources for patient reference or training your staff on how to help with them.

12. Open the channels for further questions.

Your patients might have minor questions that come up between appointments. Rather than force them to call or wait for their next appointment to ask them, you can create a platform through which they can ask them and find the information they’re looking for between visits.

13. Follow-up with your patients.

If your patients are working through different treatments, touching base with them after their appointment to see if everything is going okay can be a nice way to open the door for further communication and show them that you care. Plus, if they have questions, you can address them directly.

14. Listen carefully.

Above all else, patients want to feel as though they are heard. When a patient comes to you with a concern or question, they want to feel like someone is listening to them and taking them seriously. Educating all of your employees on how to effectively listen and address patient concerns is a great way to make sure your patients never feel like their being pushed aside or ignored.

Your patients are always the priority as a medical professional and patient retention is based on ensuring that you create a comfortable, open environment for them to get the treatment they need. By using these strategies, you’ll be able to foster an environment that provides the highest quality healthcare and keeps your patients coming back for more.

There’s hardly a profession that suffers from more billing and accounts receivable complications than the medical industry. Claim form submissions, service coding processes, and even the “simple” act of collecting outstanding accounts are fraught with the potential for errors, with significant consequences.

Medical billing and receivables can be complex due to the intricate nature of healthcare services, insurance claims, and individual patient circumstances. However, there are strategies that healthcare organizations can implement to streamline this process, reduce complications, and improve their revenue cycle management:

1. Utilize Electronic Health Records (EHR) Systems: Using EHR systems can improve billing accuracy by ensuring that all services provided are correctly documented and billed.
2. Invest in Medical Billing Software: Advanced software can handle complex billing codes, submit claims electronically, and identify any errors or inconsistencies before claims are submitted, reducing the time and effort spent on manual reviews.
3. Regular Staff Training: Regular training can ensure that your staff is up to date on the latest billing codes, insurance policies, and regulations. This can help reduce errors and improve the accuracy of your billing.
4. Patient Verification: Ensure that patient information is accurate and up-to-date. This includes verifying insurance coverage before services are rendered.
5. Outsource Medical Billing: For some organizations, especially smaller ones, outsourcing medical billing to specialized companies can be an effective strategy. These companies have the expertise to handle complex billing situations, stay up-to-date with regulations, and work efficiently to ensure timely and accurate billing.
6. Implement a Clear Patient Communication Strategy: Clear communication about medical costs and billing procedures can help avoid confusion and disputes. This includes explaining patients’ financial responsibilities and the billing process at the start of care.
7. Offer Multiple Payment Options: Providing options for online payment, payment plans, or financial assistance can help increase the chances of payment, reduce the time to payment, and improve patient satisfaction.
8. Follow-Up on Unpaid Claims: Have a systematic approach to following up on unpaid claims. The sooner you follow up, the better your chances of resolving any issues and receiving payment.
9. Regular Auditing: Regularly audit your billing processes to identify any areas of weakness or common errors. This can help you make necessary improvements and reduce complications in the future.

Be Thorough and Be Consistent

To really make a difference in your billing and AR management you need to make a commitment to your practice and to your patients, to be rigorous in your application of the strategies listed above. Automate them and make them a part of your normal processes so that they require little thought and happen with every patient visit. You’ll be amazed at how much simpler the billing end of your practice will be as a result.

Hire a Debt Collection Agency

Accounts receivables that fall behind over 90 days despite regular follow-ups of your in-house staff require the intervention of experts. Waiting any longer or thinking that you will magically get paid in the next few days is too much wishful thinking. Most collection agencies work to preserve your business relationship with customers. Collection Agencies work with your debtor rather than threatening them for payments. Cut your losses and hire a collection agency.