Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Practice Management

 

Urgent Care News

COVID Vaccination Provides Cardiovascular Protection

Vaccination may protect people from serious cardiovascular disease associated with COVID-19. As published in the …
Read More

Pertussis Surge Puts Public Health on Alert

Cases of whooping cough have surged in 2024, with the Centers for Disease Control and …
Read More

Veto Stops Bill to Review Healthcare Dealmaking in California

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill that was designed to require state approval …
Read More

COVID-19 Boosters Reduce Symptoms For Health Workers

Healthcare workers receiving a COVID-19 booster vaccine had a 45% lower risk of having symptoms …
Read More

Cyberattacks Are One Thing, Exposed Records Are Another

Healthcare data statistics tracked by HIPAA Journal demonstrate a steady rise in breaches in the …
Read More

Original Research Articles

Development and Implementation of a Headache and Migraine Pathway in Pediatric Urgent Care: A Quality Improvement Initiative

Urgent Message: There are an estimated 250,000 visits annually associated with pediatric headaches in the …
Read More

Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events in Patients with Chest Pain And Moderate Heart Risk Scores Who Were Referred For An Expedited Outpatient Cardiology Evaluation: A Multi-Center Descriptive Study

Urgent Message: Patients with a moderate-risk HEART score referred from an urgent care center for …
Read More

Fast Track Improves Patient Flow and Wait Times in the Pediatric Urgent Care: A Quality Improvement Project

Urgent Message: Fast trackmodels aim to improve patient throughput metrics for low-acuity patients. In this …
Read More

Return Visits and Hospitalization Rates of Adult Patients Discharged with Tachycardia After an Urgent Care Visit: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Urgent Message: Patients discharged from an urgent care clinic with tachycardia were found to have …
Read More

Influence of Clinical Setting on Antibiotic Prescribing Practices for Acute Otitis Media in Children at an Urban Academic Medical Center

Urgent Message: This retrospective chart review study found that the odds of children receiving an …
Read More

Clinical Articles

Dyspnea in the Urgent Care

Dyspnea in the Urgent Care: Differentiating Benign From ‘Can’t Miss’

Urgent Message: Patients commonly present with respiratory symptoms in the urgent care setting and not infrequently complain of some degree …
Read More
Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma Feature Image

A Review of Genital Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma Infections for the Urgent Care Clinician

Urgent Message: Mycoplasma species, most notably Mycoplasma genitalium are an increasingly recognized etiology of persistent urethral discomfort and non-gonococcal urethritis …
Read More
Pelvic Pain

How Useful Is Ultrasound in Acute Female Pelvic Pain?

Andrew Alaya, MD, MSc Urgent Message: For time-sensitive diagnoses related to acute pelvic pain, ultrasound is generally the recommended initial …
Read More
Isolated Sternal Fractures

Isolated Sternal Fractures After Trampoline Falls in Children: A Case Series

Urgent Message: Isolated sternal fractures in children can occur from relatively minor trauma, such as a trampoline fall, and patients …
Read More

Practice Management Articles

ASD Services

ASD Services Fit With Existing UC Business Models

Urgent Message: Rapid growth in the autism spectrum disorder services (ASD) sector may present an expansion opportunity for urgent care …
Read More
Guardrails for Nonsufficient Funds and Credit Card on File Fees

Guardrails for Nonsufficient Funds and Credit Card on File Fees

Urgent Message: Urgent care operators must navigate emerging federal, state, and payer regulations when developing financial policies that require payment …
Read More
Need for STI Testing in Urgent Care

The Urgent Need for STI Testing in Urgent Care Centers

Urgent Message: With STI rates rising, urgent care centers have a unique opportunity to address a pressing public health need …
Read More
2024 Urgent Care’s Top 100

2024 Urgent Care’s Top 100 by Number of Locations

Alan Ayers, MBA, MAcc The following table summarizes the 100 largest urgent care operators by number of locations as of …
Read More

Insights in Images Challenges

CASE REPORTS

Could This Young Patient Really Have a STEMI? A Case Report of a Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection

Urgent Message: It is important to quickly obtain an electrocardiogram in patients presenting with chest pain …
Read More

Recognition and Management of Achenbach Syndrome (Paroxysmal Finger Hematoma)

Urgent Message: By understanding the symptoms of paroxysmal finger hematoma, clinicians can reduce patient anxiety and …
Read More

Emesis Ad Nauseum: A Case Report of Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome in Urgent Care

Urgent message: Frequent cannabis use can lead to a syndrome characterized by severe and cyclical vomiting …
Read More

Progressive Diaphyseal Dysplasia: A Case Report

Urgent Message: Progressive diaphyseal dysplasia, also known as Camurati-Engelmann disease, is a rare genetic disease that …
Read More

Escalating Back Pain Leading to a Diagnosis of ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) in Urgent Care: A Case Report

Urgent Message: Acute coronary syndromes (ACS), including ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), may present with predominant back …
Read More

HEALTH LAW

Changing an Employee from Full-Time to Part-Time Status

Urgent message: Whether due to reduced staffing needs or employee preference, some employees in urgent care …
Read More

Are Urgent Care Providers Liable if They Don’t Test Patients for COVID?

Click Here to download the PDF. Urgent message: As the severity of newer strains of SARS-CoV-2 …
Read More

Who Can Take X-Rays in an Urgent Care Center?

Urgent message: Given that x-ray is a differentiating feature of “urgent care” and the current challenges …
Read More

What Qualifies Someone to Take X-Rays in the Urgent Care Center? It All Depends on Where You’re Located

X-rays are high on the list of services patients expect urgent care centers to provide when …
Read More

Avoiding Defamation Lawsuits in Urgent Care

Urgent message: People are unlikely to trust their healthcare to a provider with a sullied reputation, …
Read More

JUCM CAREER CENTER

Download Past Issues

 

Colles Fracture JUCM October 2024

October 2024: Doing All We Can for Distal Radius Fractures in Urgent Care

VIEW ISSUES ARCHIVE

CLINICAL CHALLENGES

30-Year-Old With Foot Inversion Injury

A 30-year-old man presents to urgent care with lateral ankle pain and swelling after a foot inversion injury he sustained …
Read More

16-Year-Old With History Of Orchiopexy

A 16-year-old male with a history of orchiopexy presents with syncope. He denies chest pain or shortness of breath. An …
Read More

38-Year-Old With Foot Rash

A 38-year-old man presents to urgent care for a pruritic rash that developed on his feet over the last week …
Read More

47-Year-Old With Right Hand Pain

A 47-year-old man presents to urgent care after trying out a new cardio boxing class at the local recreation center …
Read More

52-Year-Old With Palpitations

A 52-year-old male presents to urgent care complaining of palpitations. An ECG is obtained. View the ECG captured above and …
Read More

OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE

Does Concentra’s New Acquisition Foreshadow a New Era for UC and Occ Med?

On the surface, it seems like the kind of event that has become commonplace in urgent care: A large, national …
Read More

Update: The COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for Many Businesses Is Off—Again

Just when you thought you had clarity on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s mandate to vaccinate workers at businesses …
Read More

That Vaccine Mandate for Private Businesses That Was Called Off? It’s on Again—and the Clock Is Ticking

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration’s plan to require employers with 100 or more workers to institute a COVID-19 vaccine …
Read More

Your Occ Med Clients Need Your Support with the New COVID-19 ETS—Immediately

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration just issued an Emergency Temporary Standard intended to protect workers from getting infected with …
Read More

More People Are Trudging Off to Work on Site. Do You Know Who’s at Greatest Risk for COVID-19?

While some employers are content to maintain remote or hybrid work situations for their workers, either because of strong stances …
Read More

Revenue Cycle Management

ICD-10-CM: What’s New for 2025

Phyllis Dobberstein, CPC, CPMA, CPCO, CEMC, CCC We are heading into fall, and fall starts with updates to the ICD-10-CM …
Read More

When An Urgent Care Contracts as Primary Care

Over the past 2 decades, urgent care has been on the forefront of consumerism. Increasingly, healthcare consumers are realizing how …
Read More

What Did We Learn From the Change Healthcare Outage?

Phyllis Dobberstein, CPC, CPMA, CPCO, CEMC, CCC Nearly all of us in the healthcare ecosystem were impacted by the cyberattack on …
Read More

Contracting: Primary Care Versus Urgent Care

Heather Rothermel When considering contracting for your clinic, it will be important to know how you plan to market your …
Read More

Why Does Start-Up Contracting Take So Long?

Heather Rothermel Consider this scenario: You’ve decided to open an urgent care center. You’ve secured funding, found the perfect location, …
Read More

DEVELOPING DATA

Few Misused Rx Drugs Prescribed in Urgent Care

According to the United States Department of Justice, the most common prescription drugs that are misused fall into 1 of …
Read More

NPS Predicts Success in UC

The net promoter score (NPS) is a customer experience metric devised by business researcher Fred Reichheld, MBA, which measures how …
Read More

Patient Arrival Times In Urgent Care

The table above shows the percentage of patients within an average day who arrived during each hour of operations, based …
Read More

Categorization of Codes Most Frequently Used in Urgent Care

International Classification of Disease (ICD) codes—maintained by the World Health Organization and published in the United States by the Centers …
Read More

Prescription Duration for Urgent Care Patients

Whereas primary care is focused on prevention and management of chronic conditions, urgent care has historically been defined as episodic …
Read More

Abstracts in Urgent Care

Abstracts in Urgent Care – October 2024

Public Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence Use in Healthcare Take Home Point: Patient and healthcare workers surveyed were generally accepting of …
Read More

Abstracts in Urgent Care – September 2024

Can Large Language Models Help in Assessing Acuity of Patients Presenting to ED? Take Home Point: Integration of large language …
Read More

Abstracts in Urgent Care – July/August 2024

Use of NEXUS II Clinical Decision Tool for Blunt Head Injuries in Elderly Patients Take Home Point: Older patients with …
Read More

Abstracts in Urgent Care – June 2024

Using AI to Detect Myocardial Infarction Take Home Point: The use of an occlusive myocardial infarction (OMI) artificial intelligence (AI) …
Read More

Abstracts in Urgent Care – May 2024

Encouraging Shorter Course Antibiotic Prescribing Take Home Point: In this quality improvement project, both education with performance feedback in combination …
Read More

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

‘As Little as Necessary…’– A Mantra for Urgent Care

“Do as little as necessary, not as much as possible.” This is the mantra I recite throughout every urgent care …
Read More

Our Success in Urgent Care is Defined by How We Play Our ‘Greatest Hits’

Recently one evening, I meandered into a bar on iconic 6th Street in Austin, Texas— America’s epicenter for live music …
Read More

‘What Happens If We Do Nothing?’ Is Still the Right Question

Joshua Russell, MD, MSc, FACEP, FCUCM “It only hurts right here,” Rich told me, pointing to a tender spot on …
Read More

Broader Issues Surround ‘Work Note Seeking’

Joshua Russell, MD, MSc, FCUCM, FACEP Who among us has worked a single urgent care (UC) shift without at least …
Read More

What Happens If We Do Nothing?

Joshua Russell, MD, MSc, FCUCM, FACEP In its most modern form, medicine revolves around action. We are trained as clinicians …
Read More