Virtual Urgent Care Industry Lobby Day scheduled for March 3, 2021

Mark your calendars for a virtual UCA Congressional Lobby Day on March 3, 2021! On March 2nd UCA will host a Congressional Briefing to educate members of Congress on key urgent care industry legislative priorities including reimbursement issues with COVID-19 testing, vaccination distribution and administration and additional funding for the urgent care industry as part of the COVID-19 Stimulus Package.  

We are encouraging all UCA members and their staff to schedule appointments with members of Congress to share their stories as key frontline providers during the pandemic and to discuss key issues that can be addressed through legislation. If you are not available to schedule an appointment on March 3rd, we would ask that you send an email or create a short video to send to your members of Congress. 

Stay tuned for more information (next week) on how to schedule an appointment with your member of Congress, tips on messaging, and Lobby Day preparation and training.

UCA would like to thank our partners for their support of our 2021 Congressional Briefing and Lobby Day:

WHO to Develop 'Agreed Clinical Description' for Long COVID-19 Diagnosis

The World Health Organization is working to establish a clinical description for the lingering symptoms, known as long-COVID, some people experience months after being cleared of their initial COVID-19 illness, CNBC reported Feb. 13.

Urgent Care Access to Monoclonal Antibody Therapy

Yesterday the College of Urgent Care Medicine and UCA hosted representatives from HHS for a webinar on urgent care involvement in the administration of monoclonal antibody therapy for COVID-19 and its variants. The webinar recording and information from HHS on how to enroll in the program is available from ucaoa.org.

COVID-19 Vaccine Information Curated for Urgent Care

The “National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness Report” released by the White House lists urgent care as a recommended distribution venue for COVID-19 vaccinations. Are you ready?

To help you stay in-the-know about your state’s vaccine distribution plan and the various rollout phases, we’ve partnered with nationally-acclaimed lobbying firm, Sirona Strategies, to provide state-by-state enrollment information. Sign up to receive an update to your inbox so you can make informed decisions about vaccine administration for your urgent care. 

WEBINARS

Maternal Cardiac Conditions: Addressing a Leading Cause of Pregnancy-Related Death

The College of Urgent Care Medicine™ (CUCM) has been collaborating with the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (ACOG) on clinical issues related to maternal health. ACOG views the urgent care sector as one of the key contributors to maternal health, including the role they play in the identification of potentially high-risk patients

In observation of American Heart Month, ACOG is hosting a webinar, “Maternal Cardiac Conditions: Addressing a Leading Cause of Pregnancy-Related Death” on Wednesday, February 24, 2021 at 12:00 pm ET. Speakers will address cardiac contributors to maternal mortality, differentiating normal cardiac changes in the pregnant or postpartum patient from signs of cardiac disease, assessing maternal cardiac status, and treating cardiac conditions and complications. ACOG is hosting this free, 90-minute webinar with support from CDC.

Speakers include:

• Afshan Hameed - MD, FACOG, FACC, Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialist and Cardiologist, University of California Irvine
• Brianna Harris-Henderson - Founder, Let’sTalk PPCM
• Lisa Hollier - MD, MPH, FACOG, Chief Medical Officer for Obstetrics & Gynecology, Texas Children’s Health Plan and ACOG Past President

The audience for this webinar includes a number of specialties, including women’s health, emergency medicine, primary care, urgent care, cardiology, and neurology.

Pomelo Health & Exer Urgent Care on Implementing
SoCal’s First Virtual Waiting Line

Managing an Urgent Care center is no easy task. Patients want to be seen quickly and receive high quality care while clinic staff must juggle administrative tasks and patient interactions. Join this free webinar to learn how patient engagement platform Pomelo Health and Exer Urgent Care partnered up to tackle these challenges and provide exceptional service and care to patients.

Speakers Include:

• George Franklin - Sales director, Pomelo Health
• Brian Chiao - Chief of Performance Excellence, Exer Urgent Care

What you’ll learn from this webinar

• How the challenges of running an in-person urgent care clinic have evolved in times of the pandemic.
• How virtual lines and waiting room management can improve the patient experience
• How Exer Urgent Care increased the number of patients seen in a day, while still adhering to new safety measures.

We want to help UC managers move from MBFF (Management by Fighting Fires) to MBFP (Management by Fire Prevention) – so we built the new UCBX.

QUALITY

Congratulations to RiteCare Urgent Care and Holy Redeemer Pediatric Urgent Care for getting accredited; and to Southcoast Health Urgent Care, Eastside Urgent Care, Monument Health Urgent Care, PhysicianOne Urgent Care, and Cooper Urgent Care for getting re-accredited. UCA Accreditation is the highest level of distinction for urgent care centers and affirms their commitment to provide quality care, focused patient safety, and excellent clinical outcomes.

RESOURCES

Benchmarking Report: UCA is upgrading urgent care Benchmarking. In 2021, instead of our traditional annual publication that looks back at the prior year's data, we will publish industry insights quarterly - looking forward. Coming later this month!

CORPORATE SUPPORT PARTNERS

Thank you to Pomelo Health for joining the UCA Corporate Support Partner family at the Gold Level.