Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Practice Management

 

Urgent Care News

Tight Real Estate Market

New Center Sites May Be Harder To Secure In Tight Real Estate Market

A new real estate report highlights a critical shortage of U.S. outpatient facilities, particularly in …
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HMPV Peaks In April

HMPV Seems To Peak In April

As every urgent care clinician knows, acute respiratory illnesses (ARIs) often present with many of …
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FTC Healthcare Task Force

FTC Pledges To Target Competition With New Healthcare Task Force

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is looking to address anticompetitive healthcare market activity with the …
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Claims & Fax Machines

Claim Submission Final Rule Puts Your Fax Machine On Notice

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized a rule this month that is …
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Oral Medication for Plaque Psoriasis

New Daily Oral Medication Treats Plaque Psoriasis

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the oral medication icotrokinra for the treatment …
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Original Research 

Demographic and Clinical Predictors of Rib Fracture, Complication, and Follow-up Among Patients With Rib Injuries Presenting to Urgent Care

Urgent Message: This retrospective cross-sectional study found more than one-third of patients who presented to …
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Unnecessary Prophylactic Antibiotics For Clean Lacerations

An Evaluation of Unnecessary Prophylactic Antibiotics For Clean Lacerations

Urgent Message: Prophylactic antibiotic prescribing for patients with clean lacerations is a common but unnecessary …
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Pneumonia in Pediatric Urgent Care

Increased Incidence of Pneumonia in Pediatric Urgent Care

Urgent Message: Pediatric after‑hours care clinics experienced a significant rise in radiographically confirmed pneumonia over …
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Parental Pressure on Providers in Pediatric Urgent Care

The Impact of Parental Pressure on Providers Practicing in Pediatric Urgent Care

Urgent Message: Pediatric urgent care providers commonly experience pressure to satisfy parental expectations, which may …
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Financial Viability of POCUS in Urgent Care

Algorithmic Prediction of Utilization and Financial Viability Modeling for Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) in Adult Urgent Care Patients

Urgent Message: The prediction model developed for this study suggests that point-of-care ultrasound implementation could …
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Clinical 

Shortness of Breath in Pregnancy in Urgent Care

Shortness of Breath in Pregnancy: Differentiating Physiology from Pathology in Urgent Care

Urgent Message: As shortness of breath and edema are common in pregnancy, urgent care clinicians must distinguish patients with normal …
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Sexually Transmitted Infections in Urgent Care

United States Sexually Transmitted Infections: A Comprehensive Overview and Relevance To Urgent Care Centers

Urgent Message: Patients frequently utilize urgent care centers for testing and treatment of sexually transmitted infections. All clinicians can be …
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Postpartum Shortness of Breath

Postpartum Presentations: When Risk Arises After Delivery – Shortness of Breath

Urgent Message: Shortness of breath presentations for postpartum patients in urgent care should prompt consideration of venous thromboembolism or peripartum …
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Nerve Block for Headache

Blocking the Pain: Nerve Block in the Treatment of Headache in Urgent Care

Urgent Message: Although greater occipital nerve block has demonstrated positive effectiveness and few risks as a treatment for acute headache, …
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Practice Management 

Portable X-Ray in Urgent Care

Portable X-Ray in Urgent Care: Why Cheaper Isn’t Better

Urgent Message: Urgent care startups should avoid “cheaper” portable x-ray units, as they face regulatory restrictions, create workflow bottlenecks, and …
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Disclaimers Don’t Belong in Patient Charts

Why Disclaimers Don’t Belong in Patient Charts and What They Say About Your Culture of Care

Urgent Message: Replace vague, defensive disclaimers in patient charts with clear, specific documentation and evidence-based communication to strengthen trust and …
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Surveillance and Security for Urgent Care

How to Choose the Right Level of Surveillance and Security for an Urgent Care Center

Urgent Message: Choosing the right security system—whether it’s surveillance cameras or a scalable monitored alarm network—can improve operational oversight and …
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Upskilling in AI

Stop Waiting For ‘AI-Native’ Clinicians, Invest in Upskilling Now

Urgent Message: Invest in artificial intelligence upskilling across your organization by dedicating resource time and funding for educational activities. It’s …
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CASE REPORTS

Brugada Syndrome in Urgent Care

Brugada Syndrome in the Urgent Care Center: A Case Report

Urgent Message: Brugada syndrome may present with subtle electrocardiogram findings, and clinicians must recognize the pattern …
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Pediatric Plantar Puncture Wound

Pediatric Plantar Puncture Wound Through Rubber-Soled Footwear: A Case Report Highlighting Antibiotic Stewardship in Urgent Care

Urgent Message: Low-risk plantar puncture wounds in healthy children can be safely managed without antibiotics. Parents …
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Rectal Pain from Fishbone Feature Image

An Uncommon Cause of Rectal Pain: A Case Report of Fishbone Foreign Body

Urgent Message: Careful history and examination are required when assessing patients presenting with rectal pain. Clinicians …
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Pneumothorax Wheezing

Wheezing as a Pneumothorax Presentation: A Case Report

Urgent Message: For patients with presumed asthma exacerbation, clinicians must maintain a high index of suspicion …
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Bell Palsy and Stroke

When Bell Palsy Is Actually a Stroke: A Case Report

Urgent Message: While Bell palsy is the most common diagnosis for patients with unilateral facial weakness/paralysis, …
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Download Past Issues

04.2026 JUCM Case Report

April 2026: Subtle ECG Changes Indicate Life-Threatening Arrhythmia

VIEW ISSUES ARCHIVE

JUCM CAREER CENTER

CLINICAL IMAGE CHALLENGES

Tibial plateau fracture after a Fall

38-Year-Old Male With Knee Pain After a Fall

A 38-year-old otherwise healthy male presents to urgent care with acute right knee pain following a 6-foot fall from a …
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53-Year-Old Butcher With Red Rash Following a Cut to the Hand

A 53-year-old male butcher visits urgent care for a painful red rash that developed on his hand 3 days prior …
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55-Year-Old With Frequent Falls

A 55-year-old male with past medical history of alcohol use disorder presents to urgent care with frequent falls. He denies …
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Bronchiectasis in Urgent Care

45-Year-Old Woman With Chronic Productive Cough

A 45-year-old woman presents to urgent care with a persistent productive cough for the past few months. Over the past …
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Acute graft-versus-host disease

A Rash and Fever Following a Bone Marrow Transplant

A 49-year-old male presents to urgent care with 3 days of progressively worsening fever and a widespread painful rash. He …
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Revenue Cycle Management

Guide to Coding Denials and Diagnosis Compliance

A Basic Guide to Coding Denials and Diagnosis Compliance

Samantha Etter, CPC; Reanna Nelson, CPC Healthcare reimbursement processes continue to evolve. In 2026, diagnosis-based denials have increased significantly across …
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What To Know About Payers’ Downcoding Procedures

Tricia Krueger, CPC; Nikki Benedict Insurers are drawing provider backlash for new payment policies that reduce reimbursements. For example, Cigna …
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Mitigating Coding Compliance Risks of AI

Mitigating Coding Compliance Risks of AI Documentation Tools

Three types of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are quickly moving to the urgent care exam room: real-time transcription; real-time coding; …
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Adding Primary Care to Urgent Care

Benefits of Adding Primary Care Services to Your Urgent Care

Phyllis Dobberstein, CPC, CPMA, CPCO, CEMC, CCC In the last few years, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) …
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Billing Integrity in Urgent Care

Billing Integrity in Urgent Care: How to Manage Risk

Phyllis Dobberstein, CPC, CPMA, CPCO, CEMC, CCC, is Revenue Integrity Manager at Experity. The financial and reputational health of an …
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DEVELOPING DATA

The ‘Test and Treat’ Shift: 2026

“Test and treat” legislation at the state level is transforming pharmacists from dispensers into providers, authorizing them to diagnose and …
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The ‘Halo Effect’ of Hybrid Care

The ‘Halo Effect’ of Hybrid Care

Contrary to the fear that virtual care cannibalizes brick-and-mortar volume, 2025 data reveals a distinct “halo effect” for hybrid urgent …
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STI Test Bundling

Missed Opportunities in STI Test Bundling

An analysis of 70,915,524 visits logged across ~3,600 urgent care centers in the Experity EMR from January 1, 2024, through …
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Commercial Reimbursement In Urgent Care

Commercial Reimbursement In Urgent Care

While examining 17,410,492 commercially insured visits in the Experity EMR from November 1, 2024, through October 31, 2025, we calculated …
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Urgent Care Testing For Chlamydia or Gonorrhea

Urgent Care Testing For Chlamydia and Gonorrhea

About three-quarters of urgent care centers test for C. trachomatis and N. gonorrhoeae (CT/NG) infections either in-house or by sending …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care

Abstracts April 2026

Abstracts in Urgent Care – April 2026

Chest X-rays for Abdominal Pain: Physicians’ Perspectives Take Home Point: In this study, emergency medicine physicians expressed favorable attitudes toward …
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March 2026 Abstracts in Urgent Care

Abstracts in Urgent Care – March 2026

Review of Evidence for Links of Autism with Maternal Acetaminophen Use Take Home Point: Existing evidence does not clearly link …
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CT Imaging in Children

Abstracts in Urgent Care – February 2026

Do We Need to Manage Presyncope Similar to Syncope? Take Home Point: Patients with unexplained presyncope and syncope in this …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care January 2026

Abstracts in Urgent Care – January 2026

Prevention of RSV Disease in Healthy Infants Take Home Point: In this early phase, drug-manufacturer-funded clinical trial, a single dose …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care December 2025

Abstracts in Urgent Care – December 2025

Causes, Management, and Outcomes of Diplopia in the ED Take Home Point: For diplopia, binocular diplopia was the most common …
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Celebrating 20 Years of JUCM

Celebrating 20 Years of JUCM

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” This quote by French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr in 1849 …
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Training Our Teams to Meet the Needs of Our Patients

Countless times over the last year I have heard variations on a “we can’t” theme. It’s a specific and focused …
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Join Me and Contribute to JUCM

Join Me and Contribute to JUCM

It is an absolute honor and pleasure to serve as the new Editor In Chief of The Journal of Urgent …
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Urgent Care is HOLA

The Quality of Urgent Care Depends on our Commitment to HOLA Expertise

At least once a month, a friend or family member will text me—often for the first time in years—to share …
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UC Management of HDOD

Managing Health Data Obsessive Disorder Presentation in Urgent Care

In a prior editorial, I described the case of Thomas, a young man among the “worried-well,” who presented to urgent …
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