Finding Ancillary Income Sources in the Urgent Care Center
Mistake #24: Ignoring ancillary income sources
Ancillary income can account for 0-25% of the income of your startup urgent care center. Early on, it is unlikely to make the difference between financial success and failure in starting an urgent care center, but finding appropriate ancillary sources can improve profitability and provide improved patient care and customer service in urgent care. Here are a few ancillary services, offered by some urgent care centers.
- Pre-packaged Medication Dispensing: Some states (for example New York) have such severe restrictions on medication dispensing that restricts the feasibility of offering this service to patients. In states that allow an urgent care center to dispense medication, however, you can increase center revenue and improve convenience for the patient by stocking basic generic medications in your startup urgent care. Practice Velocity has integrated its software with the online eDRx software to provide a single point of patient demographic entry at urgent care registration. This software integration significantly increases the efficiency of medication dispensing for urgent care and occupational medicine patients. National Med Network has negotiated excellent prices for urgent care purchasing of pre-packaged medications. A side benefit is that providers will be less likely to prescribe expensive brand name medications when they are not indicated.
- Physical Therapy: Once your new-start urgent care center builds a significant amount of workers compensation business, many of these patients will benefit from physical therapy. If you offer physical therapy within your urgent care center, you will be able to coordinate the recovery and return to work of these patients.
- MRI / CT Scans / Ultrasound: Leasing facilities to perform studies on your patients will allow you schedule prompt appointments for your patients and to ensure high quality studies and radiology readings. One example of a company that specializes in mobile imaging leasing is Mobile Leasing. Recent changes in interpretation of state laws and other regulations may make leasing for imaging studies more difficult. Make sure that you invest in legal reviews of your contracts by lawyers with full knowledge of Stark laws, state laws, and any other applicable laws or regulations.
PV: Urgent Care Software - More startup and existing urgent care centers use Practice Velocity Urgent Care Software Solutions for their complete revenue cycle management than any other software system. Why? Because Practice Velocity offers the only solutions originally conceived, invented, and developed in urgent care centers. The three principal owners are urgent care physicians who still work in their nine urgent care centers. Urgent care centers use PV solutions for patient registration, charting, medical coding (E/M, CPT, ICD-9, HCPCS), charge entry, electronic billing, and electronic remittance.
Urgent Care Group Purchasing - National Med Network joins hundreds of urgent care centers together to get the best prices on medical supplies.
Keep Systems Computing - Custom-built PCs, including system configuration, firewall installation, and computer repair services.
