http://businessjournalism.org/2010/02/18/finding-stories-inside-drugstores-and-urgent-care-clinics/ Reynolds Center helps journalists Cover Business Better Free training, workshops, Webinars Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism Wed, 23 May 2012 10:21:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://businessjournalism.org/2010/02/18/finding-stories-inside-drugstores-and-urgent-care-clinics/comment-page-1/#comment-3308 David Stern, MD Sun, 28 Mar 2010 20:24:54 +0000 http://businessjournalism.org/?p=8225#comment-3308 The main difference between a retail clinic and an urgent care clinic is the scope of services offered. Retail clinics rarely offer laceration care, x-rays, and care for complex problems. Because urgent care centers have x-ray machines on site they can differentiate between fractures and sprains, bronchitis and pneumonia, and completely versus incompletely removed foreign bodies. Most urgent care centers are staffed with physicians, so they are able to handle more complex medical problems. Some urgent care centers are staffed exclusively with board certified emergency physicians, so these centers can handle quite complex and high acuity illnesses and injuries. Other good sources of information about the industry include the Journal of Urgent Care Medicine (www.jucm.com) and our own Practice Velocity website (http://www.practicevelocity.com/urgent_care/mistakes.php) offers lots of advice for doctors and entrepreneurs starting their own urgent care centers. Whether someone chooses an urgent care or a retail clinic, the costs are significantly lower than for care rendered in an emergency department. The main difference between a retail clinic and an urgent care clinic is the scope of services offered. Retail clinics rarely offer laceration care, x-rays, and care for complex problems. Because urgent care centers have x-ray machines on site they can differentiate between fractures and sprains, bronchitis and pneumonia, and completely versus incompletely removed foreign bodies. Most urgent care centers are staffed with physicians, so they are able to handle more complex medical problems. Some urgent care centers are staffed exclusively with board certified emergency physicians, so these centers can handle quite complex and high acuity illnesses and injuries. Other good sources of information about the industry include the Journal of Urgent Care Medicine (www.jucm.com) and our own Practice Velocity website (http://www.practicevelocity.com/urgent_care/mistakes.php) offers lots of advice for doctors and entrepreneurs starting their own urgent care centers. Whether someone chooses an urgent care or a retail clinic, the costs are significantly lower than for care rendered in an emergency department.

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