Area's First Express Medical Clinic Opens

The region's first convenience health clinic has opened, but it's not inside a pharmacy; it's next to one.

While physician-staffed urgent care centers operate in Winchester, Charles Town and Hagerstown, Valley Health Quick Care opened last month at Sherando Towne Center in Stephens City, staffed with two nurse practitioners.

Drugstore clinics are controversial because they are located inside a retail environment that increases the risk of infection for patrons. Unlike urgent care centers, physicians who might catch early signs of more serious disease do not staff them.

In fact, the American Medical Association opposes them, questioning the quality of care. And several states have placed restrictions on the "McClinics," also called convenience clinics, in-store clinics, express clinics, rapid clinics and retail clinics.

"Part of our strategic plan is to open convenience clinics," said Frank Heisey, president of Valley Regional Enterprises, Valley Health's for-profit arm that owns the Quick Care clinic. "They're controversial, but we at Valley Health want to expand and solidify our primary care base by establishing new primary care practices throughout our system. We want to grow both our Urgent Care and Quick Care centers.

"We have a need for primary care and quick care is the lowest acuity level of it. We want to decompress what goes into the emergency room."

Valley Health's 1,200-square-foot clinic treats a limited range of health concerns, including allergies, bladder infections, coughs and colds, earaches, flu, poison ivy, sinus infections and sore throats.

"Our Quick Care operates under the supervision of Greg Macisaac, medical director of our Urgent Care," said Heisey. "Our nurse practitioners are board-of-medicine certified. Also, we have quality parameters that we review to answer questions of quality about what we've been providing. We are looking to get joint commission accredited.

At many hospitals, emergency rooms visits are growing rapidly, and with many uninsured or underinsured patients, they are unprofitable. Quick Care patients, on the other hand, must pay up front or show they are insured before being treated, said Heisey. Cost of a Quick Care visit starts at $49, less than a visit to an urgent care center, and much less than at a hospital's emergency room.

As the first mover in the region's convenience clinic space, Valley Health gets a leg up on MinuteClinics housed in a CVS, Take Care Health Centers in Walgreens or RediClinics at Wal-Marts. Some analysts predict there could be 5,000 clinics operating by 2012, including 2,000 in Wal-Marts.

"Clinics are done in a variety of settings, in kiosks in malls, in truck stops and at universities," said Heisey. "They're pretty much focused in large metropolitan areas like Washington and Baltimore; the closest one to us is in Leesburg.

"We're not necessarily doing what the other clinics are doing; for the most part, we're not doing anything to patients below the waiste. We spent two years studying the concept and we benchmarked with Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin."

Valley Health plans on opening two or three more Quick Care clinics in the next year. "We don't have any timeline," said Heisey. "We are dialoging with some retailers at large retail sites, but not drug stores. We're looking at multiple opportunities, but I can't give you any details."

While the AMA has expressed its opposition to convenience care clinics, Heisey said Valley Health has the local physician community on board for this new concept, "We have been in communications with them when developing our strategic plan, and we've had focus groups with them. They've had a lot of input into it."

First Came Urgent Care

Valley Health was the first health-care organization to open an urgent care center in the Quadstate region. After prodding by the Northern Shenandoah Valley Healthcare Coalition, an employer group organized in response to rising health-care costs, Valley Health's predecessor, Winchester Health Systems, Inc., opened the Urgent Care Center in the Apple Blossom Convenience Center in Winchester in 1993.

In the last few years, two nonhospital related urgent care centers have opened in the Winchester area. This summer, Valley Heath renovated its center and added 1,400 square feet of space for new examination rooms and a new procedure room.

Valley Health had a primary care presence in Stephens City prior to opening the Quick Care clinic last month. In the mid-1990s, it opened an Urgent Care Center on Aylor Road, but closed it several years later. The building is now leased to the Veterans Administration for an outpatient facility, said Frank Heisey, president of Valley Regional Enterprises.
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DBU Medical Billing and Coding

What Is National Medical Biller's Day?

National Medical Billers Day is a new term and many outside the health care sector may not be yet familiar with it. It was only on March 27, 2008 that the first National medical billers day was celebrated. As years pass it will become a more and more popular event. Declaration of such a day was initiated by the AMBA (American Medical Biller's Association). Many may be unaware of the purpose and need for such a day!

It is a day to recognize and appreciate the professional medical billers. All the members of AMBA, as well as medical billers from across the nation will be officially recognized and it is a day for them to celebrate nationally. A State Governor's proclamation had the following points that clearly imply the need to recognize the work done by the professional medical biller. Here are some of the favorable points that mention the importance of medical billing professionals from the proclamation signed by the Governor of Minnesota.

* Medical billers provide a much needed service to doctors and other health care providers and constitute a vital segment of the health care industry.
* Increasingly, health care providers rely on billing companies to assist them in processing claims in accordance with applicable statutes and regulations.
* Health care providers consult with billing companies for advice regarding reimbursement matters, as well as overall business decision-making.
* Medical billers strive to provide a high level of ethical and lawful conduct throughout the entire health care industry and offer expertise in program reimbursement requirements, help ensure that claims are accurately prepared, and free physicians and other practitioners from paperwork, enabling them to devote their energies to the care of their patients.

The American Billing Association's goal is to provide the medical biller's association members with resources to enhance knowledge and skills to develop new ideas and technology collectively increase and realize true industry growth and leadership. It also offers the Certified Medical Reimbursement Specialists (CMRS), an exam which is a voluntary, national credential for the medical billing profession.
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Medical clinic's managers charged with insurance fraud

SANTA ANA -- Three operators of a Southern California clinic arranged risky and unnecessary surgeries for thousands of patients from across the nation as part of an extensive insurance fraud scheme, state and local authorities said Wednesday.

Some 5,000 patients were recruited from all but a handful of states and flown to California, where they underwent surgeries that were billed at excessive amounts to their insurance companies, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said.

The patients received payments ranging from $300 to $1,000 or credits toward cosmetic surgery for volunteering for complex medical procedures, Rackauckas said.
"These are healthy people, risking their good health going under general anesthesia and being prodded, probed and cut into for less than a thousand dollars," he said.

Recruiters, known as "cappers," fanned out across the country to find candidates who had insurance that did not require pre-approval. One recruiter received as much as $247,000 for her services, according to the indictment.

The three operators of the Unity Outpatient Surgery Center in Buena Park, about 20 miles southeast of Los Angeles, were arrested Tuesday at their homes after a two-year investigation by the district attorney, the state Franchise Tax Board and the Department of Insurance.

The clinic operators were identified as Tam Vu Pham, 39, and his wife, Hoang Ngo, 38, of Fullerton and Lan Nguyen, 48, of Huntington Beach.
Arraignment was continued to Aug. 6 for all three on charges that include grand theft, insurance fraud and tax evasion. Attorney Roy Dickson, who has represented the clinic now operating as St. Paul Outpatient Surgery Center, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Ngo and Tham were being held on $5 million bail and Nguyen was held on $1 million bail, authorities said. If convicted, Pham faces up to 26 years in prison, Ngo up to 38 years, 8 months, and Nguyen up to 26 years, 8 months in prison.
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Florida Weight Loss Clinic

Enrolling in a slim-down clinic will provide you a safe and effective way to achieve that ideal body weight. Florida weight loss clinics offer healthy approaches that have been thoroughly tested. These clinics claim to bring you long-term results.

Different approaches

Florida weight loss clinics offer different kinds of facilities, products and services. There are clinics that have specializations, while there are others that offer customized programs. For example, there are clinics that only offer natural treatments. These include aromatherapy, massage, and other therapeutuc approaches. If you have specifc health requirements, you can ask the clinic to create a unique program for you. One should always pick a weight loss service that suit your preferences or you can simply opt for a customized program.

Aside from these, can also go for clinics that integrate these programs into your present lifestyle. For people who want to have a complete lifestyle change, this will prove beneficial. Spas make sure that you are working on your weight-loss objectives. You can also learn weight management from health and firness professionals. After the program, you can apply what you learn in your every day living.

Before enrollment

Before enrolling in any of the Florida weight loss clinics, you must have a clear set of objectives. There should be a careful assessment of specific needs and goals. Also, there are major considerations in choosing a clinic. These include monitoring services which will assess how you are doing in your weight loss program and maintenance support so that you can keep your weight for a long time.

Enrolling in a spa will entail lifestyle changes. There will be apparent changes in diet as well as in exercise. Staying in a weight loss spa will keep you away from unhealthy habits.
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Clinical introduction to medical acupuncture

This textbook introduces medical practitioners, students, and residents to the theoretical principles and fundamental techniques of medical acupuncture. Aung (dentistry, U. of Alberta) and Chen (ophthalmology, U. of California, Los Angeles) begin with an overview of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), followed by a description of the channels and acupuncture points. Subsequent sections cover treatment techniques; diagnosis and differentiation of syndromes; and microsystems. Some of the specific applications addressed include treatments for osteoarthritis, menopause, and hypertension.

Zoe Drug Rehab Center Medical Clinic