Drawing on several decades of experience, Dr. John Wells,MD,MBA, is medical director of fire and EMS services for the city of Brownsville, Texas. Alongside this, Dr. John Wells,MD, MBA is a member of industry organizations such as the Urgent Care Association (UCA) of America, which works with professionals in the on-demand and consumer-focused healthcare sector.
Recently, UCA updated its industry white paper to update information regarding the trends and challenges facing the sector. Titled “The Essential Role of the Urgent Care Center in Population Health,” the study looks at various insights into the on-demand care industry, such as six percent growth year-on-year, with the organization reporting 9,272 urgent care centers compared to 2018’s 8,774.
The paper also highlighted concerns involved in providing care to patients, particularly given issues of affordability, as well as steps to address these challenges. For example, the recent pilot five-year Emergency Triage, Treat, and Transport (ET3) program will allow Medicare and Medicaid patients to be transported to alternative care centers for non-emergency treatment. The city of Brownsville”s Fire/EMS has applied for the above mentioned CMS pilot program, which should be awarded to a few dozen EMS services throughout the country. If awarded these changes will introduce a new scope of practice for the EMS services to provide patient centered care. While reducing the overall cost to deliver that service by having the option to transporting that patients to a less expensive, and cost-effective near-by urgent care center and/or primary care providers.
Dr. John Wells 