Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Practice Management

 

Urgent Care News

With HIV No Longer in the Spotlight, Testing, Treatment, and Prevention Are Declining

The good news is that HIV no longer equates to a death sentence. The bad …
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Massachusetts Bill Aims to Define Urgent Care—and Mandate Licensing

Among the key points in the healthcare bill introduced by Massachusetts Governor Charles Baker are …
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Don’t Let Flu Season Distract You from the Growing Measles Crisis

It’s likely your patients have been so inundated with flu shot messaging that they don’t …
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NPR Opinion Piece Is a Cold Reminder: Too Many Patients Are Languishing in the ED

How long do you think a patient with chest pain would sit in your waiting …
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Study: Millions of Young Athletes Head to the ED When Injured; Why Not Urgent Care?

According to a new study by the National Center for Health Statistics, over the past …
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Web Exclusive Articles

Much Ado About Toilet Bluing (and Other Drug Testing Requirements)

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care …
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One Visit, Multiple Complaints: Meeting the Patient’s Needs without Giving Services Away

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is …
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POP or Drop: The Direction Your Urgent Care Operation Goes Is Up to You

Urgent message: Taking your business from stagnant to successful is not an easy task, but …
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Recognizing the Role of Medical Assistants in Urgent Care

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care …
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Inbound Referral Strategies for Urgent Care

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is …
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Clinical Articles

A 51-Year-Old Woman with Multiple Dermatological Symptoms and Muscle Weakness

The patient is a 51-year-old woman who presented to urgent care complaining of a rash, pruritus, myalgias, and muscle weakness …
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Ear Pain Mimics: It’s Not All About Otitis Media

Urgent message: Though ear pain is often due to otitis media or externa, it is important to include other diagnoses, …
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Pediatric Urgent Care—Specialized Medicine on the Front Lines

David Mathison, MD, MBA   Thirty years ago, there was widespread concern that specialty medicine was “a problem.” Consumers were …
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When Pregnant Patients Present to the Urgent Care Center

Urgent message: Care of the pregnant patient in urgent care can be complex, as every test or treatment needs to …
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Practice Management Articles

Rural and Tertiary Markets: The Next Urgent Care Frontier

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is Practice Management Editor of The …
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Urgent Care Looks to Find its Identity through Gen Z and Millennials

Urgent message: Younger consumers’ healthcare preferences are significantly different than that of older consumers. Urgent care providers have a prime …
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Urgent message: In today’s tech-driven, digital-everything society, industry-leading consumer companies all leverage technology to reducing friction—ie, steps, obstacles, and unnecessary effort—in making their products and services fast, convenient, and accessible. The urgent care operation that can align with this growing trend and leverage technology to root out friction will win loyalty and patronage from today’s digitally native healthcare consumer.

Competing for Patients in a Digitally Connected World

Urgent message: In today’s tech-driven, digital-everything society, industry-leading consumer companies all leverage technology to reducing friction—ie, steps, obstacles, and unnecessary …
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The Millennial Conundrum: Fostering an Engaged Multigenerational Urgent Care Workforce

Urgent message: Are Millennial employees breathing fresh energy into the urgent care workplace or are they a new breed of …
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Insights in Images Challenges

An 80-Year-Old Man with Rhinorrhea, Cough, and Intermittent Dizziness

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A 59-Year-Old Man with a Painful Elbow After a Fall

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A 48-Year-Old Woman with a Facial Lesion

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An 88-Year-Old Woman with Several Weeks of Dizziness

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A 2-Year-Old Girl with Leg Pain After Jumping on a Trampoline

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A 47-Year-Old Female Cancer Patient with Red, Flaccid Bullae on Her Leg

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JUCM CAREER CENTER

Download Past Issues

December 2019 : Ear Pain: Typical Infection — Or Atypical Emergency? 

VIEW ISSUES ARCHIVE

CASE REPORTS

Atypical Chest Pain in a Fibromyalgia Patient Presenting to Urgent Care

Tracey Q. Davidoff, MD, FACP, FCUCM Urgent message: Underlying medical and psychiatric conditions can cloud judgment …
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An 11-Year-Old Girl with Red, Itchy Rash

Urgent message: Urticaria from cold exposure should be considered to prevent future anaphylaxis and angioedema with …
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An Unusual Etiology of Chronic Subdural Hematoma: Case Report and Review of the Literature

Urgent message: Absence of an obvious cause of symptoms should not mislead the clinician away from …
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A 30-Year-Old Female with Headaches of Increasing Frequency

Urgent message: Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) occurs when a blood clot forms in the venous …
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Abdominal Pain in the Younger Adult: Let’s Not Forget Acute Diverticulitis

Urgent message: The differential diagnosis of abdominal pain is challenging because many symptoms and signs are …
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HEALTH LAW

Can Urgent Care Patients be Treated Anonymously?

Urgent message: Due to the perceived “acute nature” of the urgent care setting, many patients falsely …
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What Use Restrictions Can Landlords Impose on Urgent Care Facilities?

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is Practice …
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Employer Liability for Flu Infection

Urgent message: While urgent care centers benefit from exaggerated seasonal demand when a flu epidemic strikes, …
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#MeToo in the Urgent Care Center: When the Perpetrator is a Patient

Urgent message: Most urgent care operators are well aware of the need for strong, clear policies …
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The Consequences of a Medical Provider Quitting Without Notice

Urgent message: Patients and communities rely on access to urgent care to augment primary care shortages …
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CLINICAL CHALLENGES

A 65-Year-Old Man with Epigastric Pain, Dyspnea, and a ‘Clammy’ Feeling

Figure 1. Case The patient is a 65-year-old man with symptoms of epigastric pain over the last 2 hours, with …
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A 57-Year-OId Man with Rib Pain with Deep Breathing

The patient is a 57-year-old man who reports to urgent care complaining of right-sided pain in his ribs when taking …
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A 13-Year-Old Boy with Hip and Groin Pain After a Soccer Game

The patient is a 13-year-old boy who complains of pain in his right hip and groin after playing soccer. His …
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A Teenage Girl Who Suddenly Bruises Easily

A 17-year-old girl presents to urgent care complaining of easy bruising, especially on her legs. She couldn’t recall having any …
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A 78-Year-Old with Dizziness and No Chest Pain, Shortness of Breath, or Diaphoresis

The patient is a 78-year-old man who says he has felt dizzy for several hours. He denies chest pain, shortness …
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OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE

Reducing Occ Med Opioid Prescriptions Is Simpler than You Might Think

A new study by Mitchell International and the WCF Mutual Insurance Company showed a strong downward trend in prescriptions for …
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Flu Season Carries Potential Benefits—and Risks—for Occupational Medicine Providers

If you offer occupational medicine services, it’s likely a heavily promoted flu clinic is an annual event. (And if not, …
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Keep Valued Occ Med Clients by Helping Them Measure the Value of Your Services

You’ve done the hard part—selling your occupational medicine services and delivering on your promise of providing excellent care—but now you …
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Want to Drum Up More Occ Med Business? You Need to Educate Prospective Clients!

For urgent care operators who offer occupational medicine services, the value of those services is self-evident. Likewise, businesses that already …
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Urgent Care is Forging Inroads in Occ Med—but There’s Still Plenty of Room for Growth

Occupational medicine can be found in more than half of U.S. workplaces, according to newly published data from the Centers …
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Revenue Cycle Management

Three Tips to Optimizing Patient Collections

Over the last decade, perhaps the most staggering shift in consumer-based healthcare has been the increase in patient responsibility. Due …
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Keeping Up with CMS Policies on Medicare Cards and Flu Vaccine Reimbursements

New Medicare Card Transition Period Ends December 31, 2019 As a result of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act …
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Be Ready for the ICD-10-CM 2020 Updates

October 1, 2019 introduces 273 new diagnosis codes, 21 deactivated codes, and 35 code description revisions to the International Classification …
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Utilizing Credit Card Pre-authorization to Optimize Revenue

With the continued rise of the cost of healthcare and higher out-of-pocket costs to the patient, urgent care centers are …
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Optimize Revenue with Improved Claims Denials Management

No matter how diligent your billing staff is about billing charges out correctly, it is inevitable that you will receive …
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DEVELOPING DATA

Flu Season is Nearly Synonymous with Rapid Test Season—Are You Ready?

Flu Season is Nearly Synonymous with Rapid Test Season—Are You Ready? Patients come to urgent care because they know they …
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Conjunctivitis: When the Eyes Have It, How Many Patients Turn to Urgent Care?

“Care must be taken to differentiate bacterial infections from viral diseases and allergic conditions.”1 Things don’t get much plainer than …
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Physician Assignment Searches: Urgent Care is on the Rise, Hospitals on the Decline

This is an interesting time to be in the healthcare field. We keep hearing (and are starting to see the …
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Urgent Care Is an Appropriate Setting for Any Age—But What Ages Are Showing Up the Most?

This issue of JUCM, without any plan to do so, demonstrates the age range of patients who realize the value …
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Telemedicine in Urgent Care—Yay, Nay, or Too Soon to Say?

If you read this month’s Urgent Perspectives column (page 1), you were treated to a dynamic conversation between two urgent …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care

Abstracts in Urgent Care-December

More Advice on Inquiring About—and Assessing—Vaping and EVALI Key points: Citation: Siegel DA, Jatlaoui TC, Koumans EH, et al. Update: …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care-November

What’s New in Flu Vaccine Information New First-In-Class Pleuromutilin Antibiotic for CAP Abdominal Pain in Patients with IUDs—Watch Out for …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care-October 2019

Report Pulmonary Illness Possibly Involving Vaping to State, Local Health Departments Key point: The CDC is working with state health …
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Abstract In Urgent Care-September 2019

Practice of Urgent Care: Rude Patients May Do More than Ruin Your Mood Key point: Individual and team performance of …
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Abstract In Urgent Care-July 2019

Rush for Outpatient Stress Test Recommendation (Finally) Examined Key point: Rapid outpatient stress testing (ie, within 72 hours), which has …
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

For Auld Lange Syne, Many Great Years

The year was 2006: Saddam Hussein was executed for crimes against humanity. The Wii gaming console debuted. Pluto lost its …
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The MIPS Mess

It should not be terribly surprising to anyone that the massive government effort to incentivize quality has run into some …
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Virtual Urgent Care: Boom or Bust?

Telemedicine remains a hot topic of debate in urgent care circles. In fact, it seems like every urgent care conference …
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I’m Not a Lawyer, But I Play One…

Like many of you, the fear of a medical malpractice claim casts a wide shadow over everything I do. Like …
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Longitudinal Assessment: A Dent in the ABMS Armor?

With the volume of dissent against Maintenance of Certification (MOC) now at a fever pitch, American Board of Medical Specialties …
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