When the Malibu Urgent Care Center opened in its present form in 1994, it was headed by Dr. David Frankle and Dr. Jill Furgurson. When Frankle decided to hang up his stethoscope last January, Dr. Dan Katz replaced him as medical director, emergency physician and co-owner. His first year on the new job has been extremely challenging with the advent of the COVID-19 virus and all the adjustments to the practice that’s required, but he’s still looking ahead to the future.
“Dr. Frankle and I worked together for 14 years at Cedars-Sinai in the emergency department,” Katz said in a phone interview. “I began working [part-time] at Malibu Urgent Care when I was still a resident at UCLA, so I’ve had a continuous presence there for a long, long time now. Dr Frankle sold his share of the practice to me when he retired last January, and I’m now Jill’s [Furgurson] new partner.”
Katz is eminently well-qualified for the position: in addition to years of ER experience and affiliation with multiple hospitals, he’s also a board certified emergency physician, spent several years at a company that trains medical professionals in the use of bedside ultrasound and took an extended course on tropical medicine and hygiene. He received his medical degree from UCSD in 2000 and completed a four-year residency in emergency medicine at UCLA.
One of the reasons Katz decided to transition somewhat away from ER to more of a regular medical practice at Malibu Urgent Care is because he wanted more of a relationship with his patients.
“I like the ability to converse with patients and follow up with them, and having more time to bond,” he said.
Barely two months after Katz took over the medical director’s job, the coronavirus hit and greatly affected the urgent care center.
“Some of the initiatives I had initially planned for the clinic were shelved,” Katz explained. “At urgent care, we adjusted to the pandemic by implementing temperature checks, universal masking, physical distancing and even more robust cleaning and disinfection protocols. In addition, we limited visitors inside the building and began utilizing the outdoor patio area as much as possible.”
The staff also initiated the use of telemedicine, where physicians and patients can interact using a smart phone, tablet or laptop. “We’re using telemedicine where appropriate because some people don’t really want to come out,” Katz continued. “We do the assessment over the video conference.”
Malibu Urgent Care organized the first drive-through coronavirus testing in the Malibu community last April, using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, but the clinic has already gone to the next level by recently securing a rapid molecular testing machine.
“It gives highly accurate results within 15 minutes, and I’m very excited about it,” Katz said. Besides COVID-19, the analyzer can also detect strep throat, influenza and other viruses.
The next improvement to the clinic will be an upgrade to an electronic medical records system by February, allowing the center to link their patient medical records to those of UCLA, St. Johns, Cedars-Sinai and others.
“We can access and share patient information and allow patients to review their own health information through a web portal,” Katz said.
His overarching goal for Malibu Urgent Care is to “improve healthcare services for the Malibu community,” which includes being able to perform comprehensive imaging studies at their location. In addition, Katz wants to collaborate with more specialists to work half-days at the clinic, similar to the orthopedist they have now, and provide the community with enhanced access to specialty care.
Malibu Urgent Care differentiates itself from other medical practices in Malibu because it hires only board-certified ER doctors. There are currently eight ER physicians on the payroll, most of whom also still work at multiple hospital emergency rooms.
“As ER doctors, we’re comfortable caring for most injuries and medical conditions and can care for almost anything that comes in through the door, like complex lacerations, orthopedic injuries, abdominal pain and more. We can handle about three-quarters of the issues that most patients go to the ER for,” Katz continued. “Our use of bedside ultrasound helps improve our diagnostic capabilities for a variety of conditions and gives us great insights to treatment.”
Emergency medicine specialists working in an ER can also diagnose and treat patients with life-threatening conditions like heart attacks, stroke, drug overdose, shock or massive bleeding. Urgent care doctors also provide a wide range of medical services to patients with non-life threatening conditions on a walk-in basis, 365 days a year, including evening hours.