Urgent care may provide a remedy for a sudden pain in your shoulder
Urgent care is a medical treatment industry that is quickly growing. When operated smoothly, urgent care centers offer convenient medical service for injuries more severe than usually seen in a doctor's office and less severe than needing the attention of an emergency room. The rules and regulations for urgent care centers are designed to keep treatments lawful, efficient and effective. These rules are established by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Urgent Care Association of America.
Complement to Primary Care
Urgent care centers are do not function like a traditional doctor's office.
Urgent care acts as a complement to standard health services and is not regulated to act as a primary care facility. According to rules defined by the Urgent Care Association of America, urgent care centers are prohibited from establishing traditional patient relationships. They do not code for total intake history or routinely provide physical examinations. UCAOA mandates all urgent care centers to encourage patients to develop and maintain relationships with a primary care physicians.
Scope of Action
A broken wrist can be treated.
Urgent care centers treat a number of the same health related issues as primary care physicians, but they are not equipped to function as traditional hospitals. The scope of a typical urgent care center extends from routine examinations to X-ray services. Urgent care offices, according to the UCAOA, also treat minor bone fractures and treatment for other non-life threatening damage, including nail gun injuries. For life threatening issues (i.e. bullet wound) patients must go directly to a hospital.
Privacy Rules
An urgent care center is entitled to pertinent information only.
Urgent care centers function in accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). This act functions to make the flow of medical information more efficient while protecting patient confidentiality. For example, according to UrgentCareAmerica, a patient being treated at an urgent care center for a broken hand may need to know if the patient suffers from an blood related illness (i.e. diabetes). A primary care physician will release this information to the center, but urgent care staff is strictly prohibited from publicly sharing patient information for any reason.
Tags: care centers, primary care, care center, care centers, Urgent care, urgent care center, urgent care centers
