Tag: medical home

Downsides of outside urgent cares

Do the downsides of using an outside urgent care outweigh the benefits? Is it worth it to wait for your usual doctor’s office?

I started writing a simple blog about using urgent cares appropriately to get the best care, but I quickly realized that it’s a bigger topic than it first seems. I’ve covered the visit experience itself and the benefits of using your medical home. Now it’s time to talk about the downsides of using an urgent care outside your medical home. Do the downsides of using an outside urgent care outweigh the benefits? Is it worth it to wait for your usual doctor’s office?

Who will you see?

There are many types of independent urgent cares. My community has some that are associated with hospital systems or pharmacies and some that are independent. They are staffed with many different types of providers. Some are even pediatric focused, but others are staffed with people who have little training or experience seeing kids. That means you need to know who you’re seeing and what their background is.

Limited pediatric experience

The provider at the clinic may or may not have adequate training in pediatrics. They often do not have others around who can help if a problem arises that is out of their comfort zone or level of experience and training.

This can lead to over treatment,  under recognition of a serious condition, and over testing with unnecessary labs or x-rays.

Training matters

Simply put, make sure your provider has extensive training in pediatrics.

This is not a “we’re better than you” point.

I do not think that every physician is a good clinician by default. Neither do I think nurse practitioners or physician assistants are not good at what they do. Both physicians as well as NPs and PAs can be great or not so great. We all have our strengths and weaknesses which are built on our interests, training, and experience.

I am getting the following numbers from What Kind of Doctor is Your Doctor? The link includes a nice chart of even more doctor types.

Pediatricians spend at least 3 years during residency learning how to take care of kids. This involves about 2400 hours per year for 3 years taking care of sick kids after medical school. Medical school is about 6000 hours of training. Total clinical training (excluding college years) is a minimum of 13,600 hours. Pediatricians know kids.

Family physicians also spend 3 years in residency after medical school, but that time is not focused on child health. The amount of training caring for children varies based on the program and their experiences.

Physician Assistants spend 2-3 years in a master’s program, with an estimated training time of 2000 hours total. This is not focused on child health at most programs. Much like family physicians, their time is divided between adults and children.

Nurse practitioners spend 1-2 years in a master’s or doctorate program. Clinical training requirements vary from 500-1000 hours. Again, these hours include both adult and pediatric patients. Traditionally most nurse practitioners went into graduate school after many years of nursing experience. That is becoming less common as many are going straight from nursing school into graduate programs, so they do not always have those working years of experience prior to getting their advanced degree.

Years of experience

Of course with all of the training hours, there is also experience after training. You are correct if you say that every person with experience is not better than someone without experience, but in general experience helps.

If a person spends 40+ hours a week for many years taking care of kids, they  continue to learn along the way. Sometimes they pick up bad habits, but I can only hope that with experience comes competence. This is best done when people work in a setting that has more experienced colleagues to offer advice along the way, not when they’re thrown into a clinic alone from day one and made to figure it out on their own.

Remember all those clinical hours medical residents spend learning? They are essentially working under those who are more experienced for several years, learning to manage complex (and minor) issues along the way. So even a brand new physician has more experience than some other providers with several years of work experience that may or may not have been supervised.

The risk of getting what you want vs what you need

Most people use walk in clinics for convenience. When their child is sick or injured, they want help ASAP. That’s understandable.

I’ve written before about why convenience isn’t always best and why sometimes it’s okay to wait. Here’s a very common example of not getting what you need:

If a baby is crying, the eardrum gets red, but isn’t necessarily infected.

Misdiagnosis

A provider without a lot of experience will often err on calling it an ear infection simply because it’s red. That makes parents happy because they think they’re doing something to make their child better.

They’re not if it’s not a bacterial infection. There’s risk to taking unnecessary medicine.

Quick medicine

It’s fastest to write a prescription and move on to the next patient rather than to explain what to do to treat a viral infection.

This is not good care, but it’s common.

Treatments don’t always need a prescription

Don’t feel like you leave empty-handed if you leave the clinic with the information that your child doesn’t need labs or prescription medicine.

Leave with the knowledge of what to do if symptoms change.

Learn how you can help ease symptoms and make them feel better.

You’re not empty-handed – you’re empowered with knowledge!

And then there’s the required surveys…

You have probably been asked to do a survey after shopping. Sometimes you do it for store credit or to help a nice sales person meet their quota.

Sadly, surveys have made their way into healthcare. We can’t offer a discount for your next visit, but many of us are required to collect a certain number of surveys each quarter.

Medical staff are being graded by patients to be sure they’re giving “quality care” ~ and I put that in quotes because I don’t believe that it measures quality at all. I discuss this in more detail in Don’t look for quick fixes for your cold!

Giving a prescription for an antibiotic makes parents happy, regardless if it is necessary. They feel like their trip was worth it because they “got something” to treat the symptoms. This means better satisfaction scores for the clinic because people like to leave with a treatment. It also brings in more money because faster turn around means more patients can be seen. The shorter wait time also drives up satisfaction despite the fact that it’s not good care.

It takes longer to explain how to treat a cold than it does to write a quick script. Parents are generally happy with the visit, but antibiotics are overused and the recommended treatments aren’t adequately discussed. And that’s not okay.

No follow-up

Independent urgent cares do not offer follow-up of issues to see if there is improvement.

Not following up not only prevents assurance that the patient gets appropriate follow-up, but it also keeps the provider from learning how diseases and conditions progress over time. This is one reason why some people with years of experience still tend to over treat or under recognize things.

Phone help

Stand alone urgent cares do not take phone calls to answer medical questions. They don’t even answer follow-up questions about your visit by phone.

If you have questions, you must call your PCP or return to the urgent care. If we haven’t seen the child for the issue, we are unable to give appropriate advice.

Prescription “refills”

I’ve been asked on many occasions to refill a medication from an urgent care because it was spilled or forgotten on a trip.

I can’t refill a prescription I didn’t write.

The parent can’t call the urgent care provider for a refill because they don’t accept calls.

That’s quite a predicament!

Referrals

If you require a referral to see a specialist for any reason, it is usually required for your PCP to do that paperwork. There are insurance plans that do not require referrals, and you may schedule on your own unless the specialist requires a referral.

If we haven’t seen your child for the issue at hand, especially if we have no documentation at all about the referral, we often cannot do it without seeing your child.

Why do we need to see your child first?

It is one of the requirements that we must abide by in some of our insurance contracts. Seeing the physician who knows a patient best can help to avoid unnecessary appointments with specialists.

Required documentation

Sometimes it’s as simple as we can’t refer for something we don’t know about. Many referrals require a copy of an office visit.

If we didn’t see your child for a visit, we have no visit supporting the need for the referral. We need documentation to send for the referral.

Sometimes a specialist is not needed

I have seen many situations where an urgent care physician, NP, or PA recommends follow-up with a specialist of some sort that isn’t needed. They often don’t realize that it is quite within the scope of practice of a primary care provider. They cannot know the skill set of every PCP in town. Call your PCP to see if they can handle the issue. It can save you money in lesser copays if you see your PCP first.

An example of this is a concussion. Every provider in my office is competent following most concussions and clearing for play when indicated. Other examples are rashes (including acne), simple fractures and constipation. I’ve seen patients who waited a very long time and paid a lot of money to see specialists for each of these indications based solely on the urgent care recommendation. Most of the time I’m completely unaware of the whole issue until I see them next and they mention seeing the specialist.

They get the same treatment plan at the specialist as we could provide in my office, but at a much higher cost and decreased convenience.

Incorrect diagnosis

I’ve also seen a number of kids with issues diagnosed at urgent care centers that I disagree with the assessment or plan. This brings us back to all the issues listed above.

One common example of this is a toddler with “recurrent ear infections” who has only had ear infections when seen by an urgent care provider. Every time they see me with the same symptoms, their ears are okay. I often wonder if these kids ever had a real ear infection. Maybe they did and it is simply coincidence, but if they didn’t, they don’t need the risk of anesthesia for tubes. I’d like to have the conversation face to face with the parent after I examine the ears myself.

Continuity of care

There are gaps in care even at urgent cares where there is a pediatrician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant with extensive pediatric training.

They do not know your child’s full medical background and do not update your child’s health record in the medical home.

Following in one office allows us to see the chronicity or recurrence risk of an issue. If your child goes multiple places for every sore throat, no one recognizes that a tonsillectomy might be beneficial.

Related posts

Don’t look for quick fixes for your cold!

Convenience Care

Help Us Help You! Make the most out of phone calls

Improper Use of Antibiotics: Don’t take the risk

Top 10 Tips for Going to an Urgent Care

Evolution of Illness

Why Wait to See Your Regular Doctor?

Why should you wait to see your regular doctor? The benefits of using your regular doctor’s office to see your PCP or another provider with access to your child’s medical record are many. I previously wrote several tips about how to use an urgent care wisely, but I wanted to spend more time on the benefits of going to your own doctor rather than an independent walk in clinic in more detail, so removed that portion of the post.

Almost as promised, here it is. The almost is that I promised to post this the next week, but a few other topics interrupted the posting schedule. Better late than never!

There is more to this than could be covered in one post, so this is Part 2. It covers the benefits of seeing someone in your regular doctor’s office. Part 3 will cover some of the problems with seeing someone in an independent urgent care.

Your primary care office knows you

Humans benefit from relationships in many ways. When you see the same people over and over, familiarity brings comfort. This can be the same face at the reception desk, the same nurses, or the same physician. Even if the faces change from time to time, the overall clinic’s familiarity can bring comfort in a time of significant illness or disease. When you have something difficult to talk about, it’s easier with someone you’ve built a trusting relationship.

Consider teens…

Think of tweens and teens who need an adult to ask for advice.

If they do not have a medical home where they feel welcome, they are less likely to talk about their problems.

As much as we’d all like to think that our kids will talk to us, they aren’t always comfortable with that. I’ve had kids ask parents to leave to talk about so many issues. Some of their “confidential questions” may seem silly to not talk about with a parent, such as how to use deodorant or how to shave, but it happens. Some are really troubling things, such as suicidal thoughts or abusive relationships.

These need to be discussed with a responsible adult, not another tween or teen, so I’m happy when they are comfortable talking to me.

If they’ve come to the same place year after year for illnesses, injuries, and yearly well visits, they will feel more comfortable.

Even different faces in the same practice offers some consistency

Even if you see different physicians, NPs, or PAs from time to time or go to a satellite office, there is still continuity within that practice.

The medical record has your child’s immunization history, previous drug reactions, any underlying illnesses or frequency of illnesses, as well as any other pertinent information. As long as you use that clinic for most medical care. The more often you use outside clinics, the less comprehensive the medical record becomes.

Primary Care Providers (PCPs) and their staff also know your family and that alone can help!

Business of medicine

Talking about the business of medicine might seem self-serving, and it is, but think about keeping your favorite physician in business. The reality is many private clinics are selling out (or just joining) larger health systems. This raises healthcare costs, increases administrative burdens, and diminishes the personal touch of healthcare.

I hate thinking about business and insurance issues, but as a business owner, I must.

I have two big regrets from my student days.

The first is that I wish I studied abroad because once work and family life start, it’s too hard to take long trips.

The second is that I wish I took business classes to prepare myself for a career in medicine. Most medical students are so eager to learn the massive information about medicine, they forget that one day they might be a business owner.

Unfortunately the number of physicians who own their own practice is falling. I suspect that has a lot to do with physician burnout and the increasing suicide rate of physicians, but that’s another topic!

I’ve learned a lot of business along the way, in large part to SOAPM. Unfortunately not all physicians have learned about business. Life is busy and it’s hard to balance everything. We tend to already work long hours, so it’s hard to fit one more thing in at the end of the day. I think medicine is in the state it’s in now because healthcare has been led by non-clinical business people who might understand business, but have no idea how it impacts the health of people.

Care outside your primary office (Medical Home)

Now that many routine visits are going to outside providers, family physicians and pediatricians are struggling to stay in business.

We still see our patients for illnesses, but they tend to be more chronic issues.

Daily headaches for the past 6 months takes a lot more time in the office than an earache that started this morning. We can’t see as many chronic issues as acute illnesses, so the amount of money we bring into the office is down due to less volume.

The costs of rent, insurance, staff salaries, and more doesn’t go down, so covering those costs becomes difficult.

Urgent care from a business perspective

Routine sick visits are quick and easy.

They’re the bread and butter of primary care offices.

That’s why urgent care centers are popping up in pharmacies and on every other corner. They are short visits, but insurance companies pay well for them. Because they’re short, many can be done in a standard shift. This brings in easy money to a clinic.

Chronic issues, mental and behavioral health, and other issues not typically seen in urgent cares take more time.

If a patient with symptoms more than what can be handled in an urgent care shows up, they are quickly assessed, offered a token treatment and told to follow up with their doctor. Or they’re simply told to go to the ER. Urgent cares don’t waste time on big issues.

The impact urgent care use has on a PCP schedule

You wouldn’t think at first of all the trickle down effects that going elsewhere for care has on your primary doctor’s life.

Remember that if we’re not seeing patients, we aren’t brining money into the practice. The money doesn’t directly line our pockets – it’s needed to pay essential bills. We have to fill our day with patients one way or another.

Well visits and short vs long sick visits

Many doctor’s offices differentiate sick and well slots in their appointment schedule. This allows us to see a balance of well visits for routine care as well as to save time for sick kids and those with chronic issues. Many of us have short and long visit slots to account for the amount of time typically needed for each visit concern.

The more patients go to urgent cares for quick visits, the fewer same day short sick visit slots are needed in PCP schedules. This means we must adjust our schedules to have more well visit and longer chronic issue slots so we’re not sitting around doing nothing.

Schedules of today look and feel different

Since we have less need for short acute visits, we fill those with longer chronic issue visits and well visits. Both of these tend to fill in advance, unlike short acute visits that tend to be needed on the same day.

Some days that means my patients who want to see me are told I have no availability. They can still be seen in my office’s walk in clinic, but they can’t schedule with me.  I’d like to be able to see my patients when they want to be seen, but supply and demand ring true.

Unfortunately, these longer visits are relative money losers and they can be more emotionally draining for the physician due to the chronic nature of the conditions seen. Some days I wish to be able to see a straight forward earache or sore throat….

How much is a visit worth?

We use a billing system that identifies an office visit by complexity and time. This is set by regulations, not your doctor’s office -unless they’re a concierge cash based practice.

A typical sick visit that lasts about 10- 15 minutes is considered a 99213, which is valued at about $74. So two sick visits is therefore worth about $148.

If a visit is over 25 minutes or complex, it is considered a 99214, which is valued at $109. We therefore lose nearly $40 for every prolonged visit because we spend more time. If we saw two different patients in that same time, we’d bring more money into the practice.

Once in awhile this isn’t a big deal, but as more people go to urgent cares for routine illnesses, PCPs are left with mostly complex visits. This hurts the bottom line and is emotionally more draining for the physician. It’s hard to deal with serious issues all day long.

This isn’t about being greedy.

If I was in it for the money, I wouldn’t have picked pediatrics after medical school.

Pediatricians are consistently some of the lowest paid physicians.

I chose pediatrics because I love it. But I still have to pay the bills at the end of the day. We have to pay office rent (or mortgage), malpractice insurance, insurance on our vaccine supply and other inventory, salaries for all staff, health insurance for staff, IT equipment and management, ect.

Just like any business, it takes money coming in to stay in business.

Changes to the value of a visit?

There’s a proposal to change the way office visits are paid by insurance companies.

This is a proposal to have insurance companies set the relative value for each visit at the same payment rate. This means if you’re seen for 5 minutes the doctor gets paid the same as if they spend 45 minutes with you.

I see this being very detrimental for pediatric care because it will encourage many quick visits instead of a comprehensive visit. But if we spend too long with a patient, we can’t earn enough money to pay the bills at the end of the month, so it will be necessary to make visits short to be able to see enough patients at the end of the day to cover costs.

I worry that people will gloss over issues that need more time. Abdominal pain is commonly constipation, but can be many things. We just won’t have time to talk it all through in one short visit.

This is a proposal that will benefit the independent walk in clinics that tend to see many earaches, coughs, rashes, and other quick issues. It will not be good for those of us who manage a lot of mental and behavioral health.

Or our patients.

Free advice is bad for business

It gets worse. Pediatricians give away advice for free all the time.

People call us to ask how to manage symptoms and conditions throughout the day and night. Most of these calls are done for free, yet we pay for staff to take them.

Often parents call and we give advice on how to manage symptoms before following up in the office during business hours. It isn’t uncommon to learn that parents took their child to a late night urgent care instead of waiting.

Parents often call asking if the care given elsewhere is appropriate or if we can we write a school excuse or refill medications when we never even saw the child for the issue.

We can’t manage what we didn’t see.

If you bring your business elsewhere, only go where you trust that the provider has experience with children and can handle your child’s symptoms. When you have questions about their treatment plan, ask them. If you need a school or work excuse, ask them for it.

You’d never buy a Kia and then ask Toyota for parts or free repairs. You return to the original dealer, right? (I chose these brands because they’re the two in my garage now. I have nothing against either, but they’re different.)

Urgent cares don’t give away anything for free.

Stand alone urgent cares don’t cover questions 24/7.

Primary care offices are required to offer 24/7 phone availability. Either they staff it themselves or they pay someone else to do it.

This is just one more way that urgent cares have the business advantage. They don’t have this monetary cost or quality of life issue.

All these calls hurt a medical home’s bottom line because we’re paying our staff to talk to families – often back and forth calls. It’s a considerable amount of time. Time for a service that brings in no money, but we still must pay staff to do it.

Physician burnout

You might wonder what physician burnout has to do with a person choosing to go to an outside urgent care or their physician’s office.

A lot really.

There’s of course a financial loss when people go elsewhere, but it’s more than that.

As mentioned above, the more urgent cares are utilized, the more a PCP must handle more difficult chronic problems, which tend to be more emotionally draining.

PCPs now have to spend extensive time documenting review of outside provider notes. Insurance companies are setting many rules and protocols to reconcile charts and update the primary care record whenever our patients see other providers. In the paper chart days, I could quickly skim consultant notes, but now it takes a couple of hours per day of unpaid time to review them all.

Seriously. Hours. Every day.

I struggle to keep up. And I’m not alone.

New reports come in every day – even when we’re off.

I’m guilty of logging in even when I’m on vacation. This is not healthy for me mentally. I know that. It’s bad for what should be my personal and family time. It’s just easier to me though to spend this time logging in so I can “do a few charts” to keep me from being overwhelmed when I’m back to work. There’s no time to catch up when I have to see patients all day and continue to get new charts to review each day.

Our physicians try to help others out when we’re on vacation, but many charts really should be seen by the PCP, not the partner.

Every day I go to work before seeing patients and stay a couple hours after I’m finished seeing patients. I review charts as I eat lunch unless I have a meeting so I can get home to my family a little earlier each day.

Charting does not bring satisfaction.

One of the benefits of working in healthcare is the satisfaction of knowing that we help others. All the years in training. The sleepless nights. Missed kids activities. All of this is worth it when we feel like we make a difference in someone’s life.

Reviewing charts does not help me feel like I am taking good care of patients. It does update me on what’s going on with them, but it isn’t fulfilling like when I see a patient and help them.

There are so many clicks to review one chart and update it as expected – reconciling mediation lists, updating hospitalizations or the injury list, and more. It’s difficult to keep up.

If most care is done in the medical home, the chart is updated at the time of the visit and these chart reviews would be less. Sometimes it is not advisable to stay within the medical home. There are true emergencies and times that specialists should get involved. These are unavoidable and necessary.

Most urgent care trips are not really urgent. They break the medical home concept for convenience.

No wonder there’s so much physician burnout these days.

Not only do we need to see more difficult or chronically sick patients because the quick acute care illnesses go elsewhere, but we also must review their notes and incorporate them into the patient chart for zero reimbursement.

That’s asking for burnout!

Use the Medical Home

What can you do to help your physician avoid burnout and stay in business?

Be seen by them whenever possible. Let them see the volume of patients they need to see to cover costs. Use them for quick sick visits as well as routine physicals and following up of chronic issues. Avoid going elsewhere unless it’s really needed.

The reality is that many private practice physicians are selling out to (or simply joining) big corporations because they can’t make ends meet.

I’ve heard their patients complain about the loss of personalized service and added costs.

Please consider the long term effects when you use outside services.

What keeps patients in the medical home?

There are many things that have been tried to allow people to be seen in their medical home. Not all work.

Sometimes people just think another location is more convenient. I know this because I get reports from urgent cares that saw a patient of mine when we were open. Instead of calling for an appointment or coming to my office’s walk in, which is available all hours that we’re open, they go elsewhere.

Extended hours

I’ve heard time and time again from patients, other physicians, and medical administration types that extending hours is important to private practice.

Even this can be a problem.

We see patients use outside urgent cares when we have regular business hours. Maybe a 5 minute shorter drive makes a difference?

My office even tried extending hours beyond our already generous regular hours. We were already open longer than standard business hours and our regular hours include walk in for patients all day every weekday and half days on Saturdays, but we stayed open even later for awhile.

Staying open later increased our expenses in staff salaries, but we found that people still went to other urgent care centers. We lost money at that time of day. People had asked for later hours, but then didn’t use them.

Walk in

One of the most complimented aspects of my office is the availability of our walk in clinic. Our patients can be seen in our office by one of our staff any time we’re open by simply walking in.

This has many of the benefits of being seen in the medical home while offering the flexibility of other urgent cares.

It still has the downside of not being able to see your PCP. You will see whoever is staffing the walk in clinic at that time, and of course this person can always consult with your PCP if needed.

It also has lead to the schedule changes noted above, since most people prefer this convenience. We now have relatively few short sick visit slots in the schedule. This can lead to less availability when there are a number of parents who prefer a scheduled appointment on the same day.

Phone calls

As mentioned above, PCPs must be available 24/7 by phone.

A phone call can be used by parents to keep their kids out of urgent cares and ERs. We can offer advice to get through the night (or until the office opens).

Follow the advice, and if your child needs to be seen, try to do it in the medical home. Of course if your child is in uncontrollable pain, is struggling to breathe, is dehydrated, or has other significant issues, he should be seen immediately.

Many offices, my own included, offer a ton of free advice on our websites. This has been debated from a business standpoint since it’s free advice. From a quality of life standpoint, the clinicians in my office like having things easily accessible for parents. When we give advice on the phone or during an office visit, much is forgotten. Having it easily accessible for parents to review is a great resource for them and helps to decrease the number of return calls for clarification. This also helps the physician’s quality of life.

Telehealth

There is a general push toward providing virtual visits through secure video conferencing. Even my insurance company keeps pushing me to register so that I can easily be “seen” when I’m sick. (I haven’t.)

I think this is a very dangerous slippery slope. Many sick people need to be examined to be able to properly diagnose things that require prescription treatments. Yet I know they are happy to call and get a prescription, so if it’s available they will use it.

Again, getting what you want is not always what you need.

I do see great potential for telehealth in the medical home and to improve access to specialists. It can be used to follow up on many issues in an appropriate way.

I worry that people will use it to get poor care for common acute sick issues. When your baby’s fussy or has a fever, you just want help, right? Just because you can doesn’t mean you should use it.

I strongly believe that we need guidelines to use this as a way to bring care to people when they could benefit from it. But telehealth should be restricted to only appropriate uses.

Related posts

Don’t look for quick fixes for your cold!

Convenience Care

Help Us Help You! Make the most out of phone calls

Improper Use of Antibiotics: Don’t take the risk

Top 10 Tips for Going to an Urgent Care

Evolution of Illness

From Dr. Mick Connors in Contemporary Pediatrics: What happened to the pediatric medical home?

Top 10 Tips for Going to an Urgent Care

School’s back in session, which means sick season is approaching quickly! The pure volume of sick visits can be overwhelming for any clinic, whether visits are scheduled or walk in, but the nature of walk in clinics makes the volume unpredictable. Sometimes no one in walks in, other times several come at once. Urgent cares and walk in clinics are wonderful for the overall speed at which one can be seen, but how can you help streamline the process? How can you keep your primary care physician in the loop? Here are my top tips for a successful urgent care trip and knowing when to avoid them.

1.  Write down symptoms.

It sounds crazy to write down things since you know your child better than anyone, but if your child is sick you are probably sleep deprived and might forget important details.

Writing things down helps everyone summarize what is going on and get facts straight. The diagnosis often lies in the history, and if the person bringing the child in does not know symptoms well, it’s difficult to make a proper diagnosis.

This also forces you to think about the symptoms, and you might realize that you don’t know everything that’s going on. This is especially true if your child spends time away from you at school, daycare, or with another parent. It’s better to recognize that you need more of the story before you get to the clinic!

2.  Expect to be seen for one acute problem.

Illnesses typically have more than one symptom despite being a single illness. It’s appropriate to bring a child in for multiple symptoms, such as cough, fever, and sore throat.

It is not appropriate to bring them in for those issues as well as a wart and headache of 3 months off and on. If there are unrelated things, expect to deal with the most acute issue and then follow up with your usual physician to discuss the more chronic things at a scheduled appointment.

The nature of walk in clinics is that they move rapidly. The number of patients checking in at any given time can be large, so each visit must be quick. If you need more time to address many issues or one big condition, schedule an appointment.

3.  Don’t attempt to get care for a chronic issue.

Chronic issues are always best managed by your Primary Care Provider (PCP), but exacerbations of chronic issues might need to be seen quickly.

This means that sudden changes to a condition, such as wheezing in an asthmatic, can be addressed at an urgent care, but routine asthma management should be done during a scheduled visit. Your child can go to the walk in for the wheezing, but should follow up with the PCP with a scheduled appointment to discuss any changes needed to the daily medication regimen (Action Plan) to prevent further wheezing.

This is especially important if you went to another urgent care or ER for initial treatment so that your doctor knows about the recent exacerbation of a chronic issue.

4.  Do not add additional children to the visit.

Many parents bring additional kids to the visit and ask if we can “just take a peek” in their ears.

If you want them to be seen, check them in too. Again, walk in clinics move quickly and the “quick” peek often takes longer than you’d think because the child is running around the room or fighting the exam.

The quick peek also does not allow for documentation of findings in the medical record, which might be helpful in the future.

5.  Have your insurance card and co-payment ready at check in.

Streamline checking in by having everything ready.

It’s surprising to me how many people must return to their car for their wallet. For safety reasons, never leave a purse or wallet in your car.

6.  Try to bring only the child who is being seen.

It is difficult to focus on one sick child when another is running around the room, falling off the exam table, or constantly asking questions. This applies to scheduled as well as walk in visits.

I know this becomes a childcare issue, but it can really help focus on the child being seen if you leave additional children at home if at all possible. Think of friends who always offer to have a play date with the healthy child. Or maybe plan to bring one child when the other is at school.

If you must bring multiple kids, set the stage right by avoiding bringing tired and hungry kids. Don’t come at nap time if at all possible. Tired kids are miserable kids. Give them a healthy snack before going to the clinic. Don’t feed your kids at the office – another child could have a food allergy to whatever you’re feeding them, which can put other kids at risk. Bring books or toys that your kids can be entertained with during the visit.

7. Bring medications your child has recently taken.

Often parents have tried treatments at home, but are not sure what was in the bottle.

Bring all medications to help us advise on correct dosage and use of the medications. This includes prescription medicines as well as over the counter supplements, medicines, and natural therapies.

8. Use your regular doctor’s office if available.

I know not all doctor’s offices have walk in hours and most are not open all night long, but most walk in type visits are not emergent and they can wait until the next business day.

Treating symptoms with home remedies is quite acceptable for most illnesses for a couple days. This might even be beneficial to see how the symptoms change over time. Some kids are brought in at the first sign of fever, and look normal on exam, only to develop cough and earache over the next few days. When the symptoms change, so might the exam and treatments!

This is a very important issue and I’ll write more on it next week. Stay tuned! ***Check out Why Wait to See Your Regular Doctor ****

9.  Please don’t use walk in clinics to have health forms filled out.

I know it is tempting to get a quick physical to get a sports form or work physical signed, but doing so breaks the concept of a medical home.

If you get these forms completed outside your PCP’s office, you don’t get a comprehensive visit. The visit with your PCP should include reviewing growth, development, safety, immunization status, and more. It’s more than just filling out forms. You lose the opportunity to share what has happened in the past year and continue to build a trusting relationship.

If the medical home does all the well visits and vaccines, we have up to date records and can update them as needed. Some kids have missed school because vaccines were missed and they can’t return until they get them. Others have gotten extra doses of vaccines because a record of a shot was missing and parents can’t remember where they got the vaccine.

We request a well visit yearly in the medical home after age 3, more often for infants.  If in need of a well visit, please call the office to schedule!

10. Call first if you’re not sure!

If you’re not sure if it’s okay to tough it out at home overnight, call your doctor’s office.

We can often give tips on how to manage symptoms to save the emergency room co pay and germ exposure. Sometimes we do advise going to be seen. If there are concerns about dehydration, difficulty breathing, mental status changes, or other significant issues, waiting overnight is not appropriate.

Most urgent care visits are really not that urgent. They can be handled during normal business hours in your medical home!

Related posts

Don’t look for quick fixes for your cold!

Convenience Care

Help Us Help You! Make the most out of phone calls

Improper Use of Antibiotics: Don’t take the risk

Top 10 Tips for Going to an Urgent Care

Evolution of Illness

Why Wait to See Your Regular Doctor When the Urgent Care is Right There?

Don’t look for quick fixes for your cold! There’s no quick fix

We all have been sick and wish for a magic cure. Sometimes it seems we find the right fix, but it was just coincidental. I see many people who want antibiotics to fix a viral illness because “it always works” but I want to try to show why this isn’t usually the case. Using antibiotics for most colds and coughs isn’t necessary and can lead to problems.

My urgent care experience

This blog is generally about pediatric health, but sometimes the principles are similar in adult medicine, so I’m sharing a personal story.

I was visiting my parents out of town and came down with fever, chills, and a sore throat. Due to the fatigue and shaking chills, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to drive the 4 hour trip home the following day. I decided to go to a walk in clinic to see if there was a treatment to help get me on my feet again.

Although it’s less common for adults to get Strep throat, I wanted to have my throat swabbed because I had been exposed to just about everything at work.

If it was just a viral illness, fine. I’d tough through it with fluids and a fever reducer for the body-shaking uncomfortable chills.

But a child had gagged and coughed in my face earlier that week when I was doing a throat swab – and he had Strep. If I had Strep (as I hoped), then an antibiotic would treat the cause and I’d be back in shape in no time.

I could technically call out an antibiotic for myself, but I didn’t want to do that. That is poor care and I would never recommend treating anyone with a prescription without a proper evaluation.

I followed my own advice and went to a walk in clinic since I was out of town. If I was at home, I would have gone to my primary care physician because I believe in the medical home.

The provider walked into the exam room looking at the nurse’s notes saying it sounded like I had a sinus infection. (I use the term provider because I don’t recall if he was a physician, NP, or PA.)

What?

He hadn’t even examined me or gotten any history from me other than answers to the cursory questions the nurse asked. Not to mention that my symptoms had just started within the past 24 hours and didn’t include any form of nasal congestion or drainage.

I’m a physician and know that sinusitis must have persistent symptoms for much longer than 24 hours. But I kept that thought to myself for the moment.

He did a quick exam and started writing a script to treat my sudden onset of fever without cough/congestion.

He literally started writing the script as he was telling me, once again, that I had a sinus infection.

Now I couldn’t stay quiet any longer.

antibiotics are not a quick fix for virusesI said I really just wanted a throat swab to see if it was Strep. I didn’t want an antibiotic if it wasn’t Strep throat.

He argued for a bit about the validity of rapid Strep testing.

I argued that I did not meet the criteria for a sinus infection and that the rapid strep tests are indeed fairly reliable (not perfect).

As a pediatrician I won that argument easily. In the end I was swabbed.

The test was negative. I most likely didn’t have Strep throat after all.

He still gave me a prescription for a commonly used antibiotic called a Z-pack, which I threw away.

avoid unnecessary antibiotics
Antibiotics are not a quick fix for viruses and carry risks.

Did I get better?

I felt better the next day, so if I had just taken the z-pack, I would have thought it worked.

Ironically, the Z-pack is not a very good antibiotic against Strep, the one reason I would have taken an antibiotic. Resistance rates are high in my area, so unless a person has other antibiotic allergies (which I do not) I would not choose it for Strep throat.

But my body fought off an unnamed virus all by itself. That’s what our immune system does. Pretty cool, right?

No. Not cool.

Well, yes… it is cool that we can get better with the help of our immune system and no antibiotics. But not cool that a less knowledgeable person would have taken the prescription without question.

Unfortunately, I think many people trust the medical care provider, even when he or she is wrong.  Even smart people don’t know how to diagnose and treat illnesses unless they’re experienced in healthcare, so anyone could be fooled. Especially since we’re vulnerable when we’re sick. Even more so when our kids are sick. We want to do anything to help them.

False security in an unnecessary treatment.

Many parents come into my clinic wanting an antibiotic for their child because the child has the same symptoms as they have and they’ve been diagnosed with a sinus infection, bronchitis, or whatever. They’re on an antibiotic and are getting better, so they presume their child needs the same.

Most of the time they both likely have a viral illness, and the natural progression is to get better without antibiotics, but it’s hard to get buy in to that when a parent’s worried about a child. Even harder when the parent is certain that their antibiotic is fixing their viral illness.

Confirmation bias.

Confirmation bias is the tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with one’s existing beliefs.

A false belief is reinforced when we think we get better due to an antibiotic. It doesn’t prove that the antibiotic worked, but our minds perceive it as such.

We want to believe something works, and when it appears to work, it affirms our false belief.

The wrong treatment plan.

In my example, not only did I not have a sinus infection, but if I did have a false negative Strep test and actually needed an antibiotic for Strep, the Z-pack wasn’t a good choice.

False negative tests mean that there is a disease, but the test failed to show it. False negative tests are the reason I usually do a back up throat culture if I really think it is Strep throat and not a virus.

If the wrong treatment is given, not only do you fail to treat the real cause, but you also take the risks associated with the treatment for no reason.

Doesn’t the doctor (or NP or PA) know the antibiotic won’t work?

Yes, they know (or should know) how antibiotics work and when they’re indicated. But unfortunately, there are other factors at work when quick fixes are chosen.

Top 3 reasons that lead to patients getting unnecessary prescriptions:

1. Time

One problem is that it’s much easier to give a prescription rather than taking time trying to teach why a prescription isn’t needed.

The faster they see a patient, the more patients they can see and the shorter the waiting time is, which makes people happy.

I see many unhappy parents who follow up with me because their child is still sick and the “last doctor” did nothing. I have previously blogged about the Evolution of Illness so will not go into it in depth here.

2. Experience

Sometimes it’s hard for physicians, NPs, and PAs to not try something to make a sick person better. After all, that’s why we do what we do, right? We want to help. We’ve all heard of patients who get progressively ill because an infection wasn’t treated quickly and we don’t want to “miss” something.

While missing a significant illness can happen, it’s not common. Common is common. Most upper respiratory tract infections are viral. It’s knowing how to recognize worrisome symptoms that comes from experience.

Physicians (MD, DO)

Physicians spend years of not only classroom training, but also clinical training to learn to recognize warning signs of illness. Even a brand new physician has at least 2 clinical years during the total 4 years of medical school. Then they spend at least 3 years of residency seeing patients in a supervised capacity before they can work independently. That’s at least 5 years of 60-80 hour work weeks.

The physicians in my office, including myself – now 18 years in practice – still ask for help if we feel it could be beneficial. Sometimes a second set of eyes or putting our heads together helps to put things into a clearer picture.

Trust that if we say it’s a virus, it’s a virus. We know that bodies can still be significantly sick if it’s Just A Virus, but most of the time you can manage symptoms at home. Listen to what we say are warning signs that indicate your child should be reassessed. Bring your child back if symptoms worsen or continue longer than typical. Symptoms can worsen, but taking an antibiotic does not prevent that progression in most cases.

Be sure to question if you do not understand or agree with an assessment or treatment plan, as I did in my example above. It is essential to have this type of communication for the best care.

Nurse Practitioners (NPs) and Physician Assistants (PAs)

I love the NPs in my office. They do a fantastic job and make patient access easier. They see a lot of sick kids and do a great job treating when needed and giving “just” advice when that is what is needed. (That’s usually harder, trust me.)

They are always able ask questions if they don’t know what to do or for a physician to see a patient if a parent wants a second opinion.

I do not want this to become an argument if NPs and PAs are good. They are needed in our healthcare system to help patients get seen in a timely fashion. I welcome and appreciate them as part of the healthcare team.

But I do want to acknowledge that the training and background can vary widely, and I think it’s important to know the experience of your provider. It is not as regulated to become an NP or PA as it is to become a physician.

Many NPs have years of work experience before returning to school to get their advanced degree. But newer online programs do not require much clinical experience. At all.

If they then begin working independently without much supervision, they learn as they go and may or may not learn well. I’m not saying they’re not smart, but I also know how lost I felt those first months as a new physician after many supervised hours, and I know they have a small fraction of those supervised hours. I can’t imagine doing that as a new grad!

This is why I think that all new practitioners should work with others who have more experience, so they can learn from the experience of others. I worry when inexperienced people work alone in clinics, with no one to bounce questions off of.

Learn more about the training of healthcare providers in What kind of doctor is your doctor?

Patient experience and the 6th sense as a parent

Experience as a parent (and patient) matters too.

We can’t see what your child experienced last night if we’re seeing them in the morning and symptoms changed. Many symptoms are worse overnight, which makes it difficult to assess during the day. Of course if symptoms are urgent at night, go to a 24 hour facility that can adequately evaluate the situation.

If you are able to wait until regular business hours, you must describe it so we can understand it.

If you feel uncomfortable with the treatment plan, talk to the provider. List your concerns and let them address them. That’s not the same thing as demanding a prescription or further testing. It means asking for more information about why they feel the current plan is the correct one.

3. Surveys

Many hospitals, clinics and insurance companies are surveying patients to see if “good care” was provided. These surveys are used to place providers on insurance contracts and decide payment and salaries.

People are happier and think care is better if something was done. A lab, x-ray, or prescription (whether needed or not) is “something” people can identify.

People do not feel that information about viral illnesses and what treatments can be done at home is as worthwhile as a tangible treatment, even if it’s the correct treatment. They see the prescription as making the cost and time taken for the office visit “worth it” even if it is bad care. Leaving empty handed (but with proper treatment) doesn’t satisfy.

And the surveys reflect that.

Sadly, the pressure felt by physicians and other medical providers to perform well on surveys has been shown to have many negative side effects. Healthcare costs rise from unnecessary tests and treatments. Side effects of unnecessary treatments occur. Hospitalization rates and death are even higher with high patient satisfaction scores.

Don’t look for a quick fix. Look for the right fix.

Antibiotics certainly have their place. They are very beneficial when used properly. For a fun read about being responsible with antibiotics, visit RESPECT ANTIBIOTICS: USE THEM JUDICIOUSLY TO ENSURE WE CAN STILL WAGE THE WAR AGAINST BACTERIA from Dr. Michelle Ramírez.

If we use antibiotics inappropriately, they cause more problems.



Share Quest for Health

Convenience Care

Healthcare is available at many locations, such as in the medical home (primary care office), at a specialty clinic, in a hospital or a surgery center, freestanding urgent cares, pharmacy based urgent cares, emergency rooms, telehealth companies, school health clinics and more. Convenience care is what I use to describe the care people desire here and now, when it’s convenient and where it’s convenient.

There are places that are best suited for one issue and others suited for other issues. Sometimes people choose a location based on what’s convenient at the moment, not necessarily when and where they will get the best care. This usually isn’t going to make much of a difference, but it can have implications of varying consequences. Convenience care is not equal to the best care, and sometimes not even equal to good care.

The one about the restaurant

My family likes to go to Primary Restaurant for great food. We know the food is high quality and the chef takes special care to make everything just right with healthy ingredients. The staff gives great service, always making sure we have what we need. Because there’s always room for improvement, they encourage quality development and the restaurant staff works to make things right to the best of their ability if a problem is identified.

source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Simpsons_Ride_-_KwikEMart2.jpg

But one night we decided to go to Convenience Cooks. We were hungry and Convenience Cooks was on the way home.

Were we starving to death? No. We had food at home we could have eaten, but Convenience Cooks was, well… convenient. Their menu was limited compared to what we are used to, but we were able to order something that was decent.

While we were waiting, I decided to call Primary Restaurant to see if it was a good choice or if we should leave and go to their restaurant. They said since I made the choice and was already waiting, I should just stay at Convenience Cooks.

The food wasn’t the quality we were used to, but we ate it. I had second thoughts at the end of the meal, so I called the Primary Restaurant to see what they thought. The staff who is usually so helpful wasn’t of any use helping me decide if what we ate was good for us or not.

Since none of us felt satisfied and left still hungry, I feel like Primary Restaurant should deliver food to our home, but they refused. They said we should go to Primary Restaurant to eat if we want their food. Why? I already paid Convenience Cooks and had most of a meal there.

Weeks later I get a bill from Convenience Cooks and am surprised about the cost of convenience, so I call Primary Restaurant to see if it’s usual for Convenience Cooks to bill added fees. Again, they said they couldn’t do anything to help with the bill. For a Restaurant that is usually so helpful, I feel like they are dropping the ball because they won’t help with anything that was done at Convenience Cooks. It’s like they don’t have any responsibility for what I eat elsewhere.

The one about specialists

In another scenario, you really want a good BBQ. Primary Restaurant specializes in All-American food, but they don’t offer slow-cooked BBQ, so they refer customers to BBQ-R-Us.

BBQ-R-Us is busy and requires reservations. Since you are used to same day seating at Primary Restaurant, you ask if they can get you preferential seating at BBQ-R-Us. After several phone calls back and forth with staff at each location, you realize you can be put on a waiting list, but no one was able to change your initial reservation.

When that time finally comes, you enjoy the ribs, but leave with questions. Instead of asking the BBQ specialists, you call Primary Restaurant to ask about how the ribs were prepared. You’re disappointed to hear that they can’t give details about the BBQ recipes and tell you to call BBQ-R-Us.

Even later you call Primary Restaurant to complain about the bill you got from BBQ-R-Us. You were surprised that the creamy corn was extra and they charged a seating fee. Again, Primary Restaurant isn’t very helpful in discussing the bill from BBQ-R-Us. They refer you back to BBQ-R-Us.

now change the names

Most people can see just how crazy it is for a restaurant to “fix” the problems with quality, cost, or service at another restaurant, yet many (MANY) people want their primary care physician to do just that after trips to convenience urgent cares or regarding specialist referrals. The scenarios above are based on real phone calls about medical care. These phone calls are not only time-consuming and costly for medical offices, but they’re also frustrating for the people on both sides.

Convenience Cooks = Urgent Cares

I’m sure I’m not alone when I get frustrated at the number of calls asking me to give an opinion of treatment received elsewhere, or to fix a problem that wasn’t fixed at an urgent care. I’m glad that patient families feel so comfortable with my office that they call to ask for help, but if I am not a part of the evaluation, I can’t help.

It’s not that I’m holding a grudge or trying to be mean, but I really can’t help. If I didn’t see the patient or at least have access to the medical record of the visit and know the provider well enough to understand their practice style, I have no idea what was really seen and done.

If you call my office because your child is having a problem with a medicine someone else prescribed, we will tell you to call the place that prescribed the medicine. We cannot manage what someone else prescribed. Often we hear that “they’re not open yet” or “they don’t do phone calls, they want us to come back.” Sorry. We will want to see your child before we treat him for this issue. You can bring him in or you can follow-up with the original prescriber.

On a similar note, if a patient sees someone else in my office, I can look at the medical record documentation. I know the people I work with well enough to know what they typically say and do, and along with their written plan I can usually offer assistance if they’re not available. Sometimes even then I will want to see a patient because symptoms change.

If someone outside my office sees a patient, I really don’t know what the level of exam was, the experience of the provider, or the specific details of the visit. Urgent cares are getting better at sending a summary of the visit to the primary care provider, but we still don’t receive any information a significant percentage of the time. Other than routine general advice, I can’t really say much about the issue. I cannot change or refill another provider’s order. I cannot order labs or x-rays based on another provider’s assessment. I believe that this is not good care and I would prefer to see the patient if they need advice or a change in the treatment plan from me. And I certainly can’t do anything about the bill from another provider.

Many problems seen at urgent cares can wait. I know it’s easier to get your child in tonight so they can maybe go to daycare/school tomorrow, but many of these things are viral and just take time. Even if it’s strep throat and they start an antibiotic at 8pm, they can’t go to school in the morning. If you would have called my office before going to the urgent care (or looked on our website for advice), chances are the issue could have waited until office hours by using some at home treatments to make it through the night.

The cost savings of staying out of an emergency room or urgent care can be substantial with many insurance plans. And my office would be available to help answer any questions that arise from that visit. (Note: sometimes when the symptoms change we still need to see a child again, but we are more likely to be able to help over the phone if we were the ones who saw the child than if they were seen anywhere else.)

There are now some urgent cares that are actually cheaper in dollars because of insurance contracts. I think this is a very short-sighted plan on the part of insurance companies and in the end will cost more in dollars and health complications. They are trying to save money by contracting with these urgent cares (or are merging with them). I worry that fragmented care will in the end increase costs because they won’t have access to a patient’s medical chart. Increased numbers of tests and prescriptions are often seen at ER/UCs compared to primary care offices because they don’t have a means to follow-up like the medical home does so they cover all the bases rather than take the watchful waiting approach that PCPs are able to take. At urgent cares patients will not have the benefit of seeing the same provider each time, so they will never develop the important doctor-patient relationship that can help if and when anything chronic develops.

BBQ-R-Us = Subspecialist Referrals

As for specialist referrals, I know it’s hard for people to wait for appointments, but I really can’t get people in any quicker than a schedule allows. If it is a real emergent or urgent need, I can talk to the doctor to see options, such as admitting to the hospital so they can be consulted, or having someone go to the ER, where they might stop by to see the patient. Usually it isn’t really that urgent from a medical standpoint, and waiting for the appointment is just what happens in the specialist world. I’m not saying that’s a good thing, it’s simply reality. Please don’t beg me to call them to get you in sooner. I cannot invent time and I can’t alter their schedule. Despite what the scheduler tells you, if the primary care doctor calls the specialist, the specialist rarely can get the appointment changed. I’ve done this frustrating scenario many times– often when I really want the child seen sooner than scheduled. Unfortunately it usually doesn’t significantly alter the appointment time. It just wastes my time and the time of the specialist.

After your appointment I cannot tell you if the treatment plan they propose is the best for your child. Once I refer, it’s usually because it is out of my knowledge base and needs specialist care. I can learn along with patients, but I rely on the specialist to know the latest and greatest in their field and they can give better advice than I can. I also don’t like to “step on toes” if I refer. If they are driving the bus, they need to drive. Back seat drivers can cause problems on the road. Let them drive the bus. If you really want another opinion, you’ll have to ask another specialist.

Expect higher fees any time you use a hospital based facility, whether it’s for an office visit, a lab, or a procedure. They not only have charges for the physician’s time, but they have facility fees to cover the costs of running the hospital.

The primary care physician cannot change the charges incurred at any other clinic or hospital. We recommend researching costs prior to care, but we know that this is very difficult unless you know exactly what will be done at every visit. We cannot tell you what another physician will do… I can’t even predict what I will do at a visit if you call me ahead of time. If your child has a fever and cough, I might send you home with at home treatment instructions without any expensive tests if the exam supports that. I might order labs or a CXR, prescribe a medicine, or admit your child to the hospital for treatment if the findings support that.

It’s hard to anticipate costs, and that’s a problem with our healthcare system. I know that, but it’s not in my control to fix that. Believe me, I understand as a consumer how frustrating and expensive healthcare can be.

We try to help by keeping a list of all our most common charges in the parent book in each exam room, but that doesn’t help plan before the visit. It only tells the maximum that will be charged, not the actual amount that will be the patient responsibility after insurance adjustment and payment. I understand how frustrating medical costs can be, but I can only help with what is in my control. Changing how our billing and insurance system works is not in my power. I can only play by the rules.

Cold and Flu Season is Upon Us!

Every year at this time, I think about how our kids are managed when they become sick. Not only what we do to treat symptoms, but how, when, and where patients get medical advice and care. During cold and flu season kids get sick. A lot.

We are a busy society. We want things done now. Quickly. Cheaply. Correctly. Resolution so we can get back to life.

Illness doesn’t work that way.

Most childhood illnesses are viruses and they take a few weeks to resolve. There’s no magic medicine that will make it better.

  • Please don’t ask for an antibiotic to prevent the runny nose from developing into a cough or ear infection.
  • Don’t ask for an antibiotic because your child has had a fever for 3 days and you need to go back to work.
  • Don’t ask for an antibiotic because your teen has a big test or tournament coming up and has an awful cough.
  • Antibiotics simply don’t work for viruses. They also carry risks, which are not worth taking when the antibiotic isn’t needed in the first place.

Urgent cares are popular because they’re convenient.

Convenient isn’t always the best choice. Many times kids go to an urgent care after hours for issues that could wait and be managed during normal business hours. I know some of this is due to parents trying to avoid missing work or kids missing school, but is this needed?

Can it hurt?

Extra tests = Extra costs

Some kids will get unnecessary tests, x-rays, and treatments at urgent cares and emergency rooms that don’t have a reliable means of follow up. They attempt to decrease risk often by erring with over treating.

The primary care office does have the ability to follow up with you in the near future, so we don’t have to over treat.

No history

Urgent cares outside of your primary care office don’t have a child’s history available.

They might choose an inappropriate antibiotic due to allergy or recent use (making that antibiotic more likely less effective).

It’s easy to fail to recognize if your child doesn’t have certain immunizations or if they do have a chronic condition, therefore leaving your child open to illnesses not expected at their age.

We know that parents can and should tell all providers these things, but the new patient information sheets in my office are often erroneous when compared to the transferred records from the previous physician. Parents don’t think about the wheezing history or the surgery 5 years ago every visit.

It’s so important to have old records!

Records in one place

Receiving care at multiple locations makes it difficult for the medical home to keep track of how often your child is sick.

Is it time for further evaluation of immune issues?

When should you consider ear tubes or a tonsillectomy?

If we don’t have proper documentation, these issues might have a delay of recognition.

Not all locations are good with kids

Urgent cares and ERs are not always designed for kids.

I’m not talking about cute pictures or smaller exam tables.

I’m talking about the experience of the provider. If they are trained mostly to treat adults, they might be less comfortable with kids.

They might order extra labs or x-rays that a pediatric trained physician would not feel are necessary.

This increases cost as well as risk to your child.

Drug choice and dosing can be complicated for clinicians not familiar with pediatric care.

We have been fortunate in my area to have many urgent cares available after hours that are designed specifically for kids, which does help. But this is sometimes for convenience, not for the best medical care.

Cost

As previously mentioned, cost is a factor.

I hate to bring money into the equation when it comes to the health of your child, but it is important, especially with the increasing rates of high deductible health insurance – you will feel the burden of cost.

Healthcare spending is spiraling out of control.

Urgent cares and ERs usually charge more.

This cost is increasingly being passed on to consumers. Your copay is probably higher outside the medical home. The percentage of the visit you must pay is often higher. If you pay out of pocket until your deductible is met, this can be a substantial difference in cost. (Not to mention they tend to order more tests and treatments, each with additional costs.)

What about the walk in clinic at your primary care office? 

Many pediatric offices offer walk in urgent care as a convenience for parents who are worried about their acutely ill child.

If your doctor offers this, the care given is within the medical home, which allows access to your child’s chart. All treatments are within your child’s medical record so it is complete.

Staff follow the same protocols and treatment plans as scheduled patients, so your child will be managed with the protocols the group has agreed upon. Essentially primary care pediatricians have a high standard of care and want your child to receive that great care in the medical home as often as possible.

Telehealth

There are more and more telehealth options offered by insurance companies and physicians. This is a new area that has exciting potentials, but I’m concerned about inappropriate treatments. It can be a great tool to follow up on ongoing issues, but is not appropriate for many routine earaches, sore throats, and other issues that require an exam and/or testing.

I know it’s tempting to call in to get a prescription for a presumed ear infection or Strep throat, but think about how those diagnoses are made and remember that overuse of antibiotics increases risks to your child.

So what kinds of issues are appropriate for various types of visits?

(Note: I can’t list every medical problem, parental decisions must be made for individual situations. For a great review of how to determine if it’s an emergency, see Reliable keys to identify a medical emergency from Dr. Oglesby at Watercress Words.)

After hours (urgent care or ER- preferably one for children):

  • Difficulty breathing (not just noisy congestion or cough but increased work of breathing)
  • Dehydration
  • Injury (including but not limited to bleeding that won’t stop, a wound that gapes open, obvious or suspected broken bone)
  • Pain that is not controlled with over the counter medicines
  • Severe abdominal pain
  • Fever >100.4 rectally if under 3 months of age or underimmunized. (There is no magic temperature we “worry more” if an older child is vaccinated.)

Walk in clinic (or appointment) at your primary care provider’s office:

Being sick isn’t fun, but sometimes it just takes time to get better while using at home treatments. Use the healthcare system wisely to get the best care.
  • Fever
  • Earache
  • Fussiness
  • Cough
  • Sore throat
  • Vomiting and/or diarrhea
  • Any new illness

Issues better addressed with an Appointment in the Medical Home:

  • Follow up of any issue (ear infection, asthma, constipation) unless suddenly worse, then see above
  • Chronic (long term) concerns (growth, constipation, acne, headaches)
  • Behavioral issues or concerns
  • Well visits and sports physicals (insurance counts these as the same, and limits to once per year so plan accordingly)
  • Immunizations – ideally done at medical home so records remain complete

telehealth

  • If your primary doctor (or specialist) uses telemedicine as part of follow up care this can be a great use of telehealth.
  • Be careful of “free” or inexpensive telehealth options from other groups, including those from your insurance company. A quick and easy fix isn’t necessarily a safe, effective, or needed treatment.
Getting appropriate health care is important. If you aren’t sure what the best plan of action is, call your doctor’s office.