Q: We are an urgent care facility. What are the first steps in the process of adding occupational health services to our mix?
A: “You should begin by offering employers services that can be billed directly, things like drug and alcohol testing and physical exams.”
A: “First study your market: what is the employer profile and distribution and what are the services they may need.”
A: “Recognize that you (most likely) already do some occupational health in your urgent care setting. You can build on that.”
A: “Train staff on OSHA compliance, physician training, and provide a general occupational health orientation.”
A: “Keep in mind that communication mechanisms are different. Urgent care is more provider-patient; occupational medicine has a broader scope of representatives and they all want different kinds of information.”
A: “We share such things as drug testing and lab side by side.”
A: “As with urgent care centers, occupational medicine must look at what comes in after hours and follow-up at the outset of the next day.”
Q: Are there any ways occupational health and urgent care can be jointly marketed?
A: “Yes. They should be marketed together. Take special care to note hours of operation.”
A: “You can employ multiple social media tactics on both sides.”
Q: What should we look for when we consider software for both occupational health and urgent care?
A: “We have found that EMRs are not good windows for drug tests or blood tests.”
A: “Be certain that dictation processes are consistent for both sides.”
Q: How do we encourage staff to work both sides of the blended clinic?
A: “We have developed a system to record the production of each staff member each day for everything they do.”
A: “We pay an additional performance wage to any staff that exceeds documented expectations.”
A: “You may have to be creative with compensation. For example, in occupational medicine, physicians may be uncomfortable with shifts. You need an ongoing dialogue and to stay flexible.”
A: “Many physicians choose occupational medicine because they do not want to treat youths or toddlers.”
