Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Practice Management

 

The Power of the First Call: Building Command Telephone Presence

By bnapolitano  /  July 9, 2018
Urgent message: After an urgent care center spends thousands of dollars on marketing and advertising to raise awareness, it should
Read More
The Power of the First Call: Building Command Telephone Presence

The Quality of Care at Urgent Care Centers

By StuWilli  /  February 10, 2009
Urgent message: New data reveal that urgent care compares favorably with other practice environments when it comes to select key
Read More
The Quality of Care at Urgent Care Centers

Approach to Fever and Drooling in Infants and Toddlers

By bnapolitano  /  July 1, 2018
Urgent message: Typical drooling is no cause for alarm in infants and toddlers. However, excessive drooling accompanied by fever or
Read More
Approach to Fever and Drooling in Infants and Toddlers

Establishing Success Habits for Leaders and Organizations

By bnapolitano  /  July 1, 2018
Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is Practice Management Editor of The
Read More
Establishing Success Habits for Leaders and Organizations

A 20-Year-Old Male with Nasal Pain Following an Injury

By bnapolitano  /  June 18, 2018
Case The patient is a 20-year-old male who presents 2 days after getting hit in the face with an elbow during
Read More
A 20-Year-Old Male with Nasal Pain Following an Injury

Urgent Care News

CDC Wants More Opioid Guidelines—but Will They Help?

Robert Redfield, MD took the reins at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in …
Read More

Guard Patient Privacy Like You Would Your Own—or Face the Consequences

Prosecutions for relatively small-time violations of patient privacy under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability …
Read More

UCF Study Seeks to Quantify Early Diabetes Detection in Urgent Care

It’s not all that unusual for patients to be diagnosed with diabetes in an urgent …
Read More

Inappropriate Opiate Prescribing Has an Urgent Care Physician Facing Serious Time

The lure of padding his income by taking off-the-books cash from patients seeking illicit opiate …
Read More

Amazon May Push Walgreens to Accelerate, Expand UnitedHealth Urgent Care Plans

A new article published online by Forbes suggests that Walgreens, which is working with MedExpress …
Read More

Web Exclusive Articles

The Power of the First Call: Building Command Telephone Presence

Urgent message: After an urgent care center spends thousands of dollars on marketing and advertising …
Read More

Preventing Medication Errors in the Urgent Care Center

Urgent message: Medications can heal, but they can also be deadly. That’s why protocols and …
Read More

Preventing Sexual Harassment in the Urgent Care Workplace

Urgent message: Recent high-profile sexual harassment allegations in Hollywood and Washington beg the question as …
Read More

The Dangers of Sitting Down on the Job

Urgent message: Prolonged sitting has been called the “new smoking” causing a host of diseases, …
Read More

Beware of Digital Distractions in the Workplace

Urgent message: While the launch of handheld technologies, email, messaging, and social media brought an immediate …
Read More

Clinical Articles

Approach to Fever and Drooling in Infants and Toddlers

Urgent message: Typical drooling is no cause for alarm in infants and toddlers. However, excessive drooling accompanied by fever or …
Read More
Head Injuries and Cirrhosis: Does everyone need a CT Scan?

Head Injuries and Cirrhosis: Does everyone need a CT Scan?

Urgent message: The decision of whether or not to image a patient with a head injury has significant implications—for the …
Read More

Concussion Management in Urgent Care: A Primer for Implementation

Urgent message: Sports-related concussions are particularly dangerous injuries due to their complex nature and difficulties associated with diagnostic and return-to-play …
Read More

Management of Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Low Back Pain in the Urgent Care Setting

Urgent message: A systematic approach to evaluating, diagnosing, and treating low back pain in the urgent care setting reduces unnecessary …
Read More

Practice Management Articles

Establishing Success Habits for Leaders and Organizations

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is Practice Management Editor of The …
Read More
developing-reimbursement

Developing a Reimbursement Policy for CME and Other Employee Expenses

Urgent message: Every urgent care center should have a clear policy outlining which employee expenses, including CME-related expenses, it reimburses …
Read More

Thinking Differently About Paid Time Off

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care, LLC and is Practice Management Editor of …
Read More
Facility Design: Cultivating Collaboration in the Back Office

Facility Design: Cultivating Collaboration in the Back Office

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care and is Practice Management Editor of The …
Read More

Insights in Images Challenges

A 41-Year-Old Woman with Wrist Pain After Falling

Click Here

Pain and Changes in Appearance in a Child’s Eye

Click Here

Constipation in a 67-Year-Old Man

Click Here

Red Painful Eye with Visual Loss

Click Here

Man with Decreased Vision in One Eye

Click Here

55-year-old woman with injury to her right finger

Click Here

JUCM CAREER CENTER

Urgent Care Physician Opportunities – Bon Secours Medical Group – Greenville, SC May 15, 2018

URGENT CARE PHYSICIANS – HealthPartners – Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN May 13, 2018

Medical Director – OhioHealth Urgent Care – OH May 10, 2018

Family Medicine and/or Emergency Medicine Physicians – Main Line Health – Broomall, PA May 9, 2018

Urgent Care Physician – Sansum Clinic – Lompoc, CA May 8, 2018

Download Past Issues

June 2018 How Urgent Care Gets the Competition Up and Running
 June 2018
May 2018
 April 2018 
 March 2018
 February 2018

CASE REPORTS

Leg Pain in a 34-Year-Old Man

Urgent message: The ability to differentiate deep vein thrombosis from other diagnoses such as cellulitis is …
Read More

Cervical Fasciitis—An Unusual Cause of Neck Pain

Urgent message: Though neck pain is a common complaint among patients presenting to urgent care centers, …
Read More

An Uncommon Clinical Presentation of Ovarian Torsion

Urgent message: Abdominal pain is an extremely common complaint in the urgent care setting. The differential …
Read More

Cardiopulmonary Emergency Masquerading as Gastrointestinal Symptoms

Nihar B. Gala, MD Urgent message: The ability to distinguish between urgent and truly emergent conditions …
Read More

A 38-Year-Old Man with Chest Pain

Urgent message: When a relatively young patient presents to urgent care with chest pain, there may …
Read More

HEALTH LAW

Which Way to Go: The Pros and Cons of 1099 vs W-2 Income for Urgent Care Physicians

Urgent message: To avoid running afoul of labor and tax laws, urgent care operators should understand …
Read More

Effectively Utilizing 90-Day Probationary Periods for New Employees

Urgent message: A 90-day probationary period suspends the standard employment rules for new employees, enabling them …
Read More

New Rules for Beneficiary Inducements at Urgent Care Centers

Urgent message: Unlike other retail businesses, which commonly provide gift cards and other incentives in marketing …
Read More

The Importance and Validity of Nondisclosure and Nonsolicitation Clauses for Urgent Care Center Owners

Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity Urgent Care, LLC and is …
Read More

Misunderstanding Occupational Medicine Services ‘Protocols’

Misunderstanding Occupational Medicine Services ‘Protocols’  Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is Chief Executive Officer of Velocity …
Read More

CLINICAL CHALLENGES

A 52-Year-Old Man with Recent-Onset Dizziness

Case A 52-year-old man presented to urgent care with a 2-day history of dizziness. He denies chest pain, syncope, shortness …
Read More

A Toddler with a Sudden Limp

Case The patient is a 3-year-old female who is brought to your urgent care center by her parents, who report …
Read More

A 3-Year-Old Girl with Vesicles on Her Palms and Soles

Case A 3-year-old girl was brought to urgent care with small widespread vesicles, including on her palms and soles. She …
Read More

A 34-Year-Old Woman with an Unidentified Insect Sting

Case The patient is a 34-year-old woman who has just returned from the first camping trip of the year with …
Read More

A 17-Year-Old Male with Knee Pain After a Fall

Case The patient is a 17-year-old male who presents to urgent care with anterior knee pain after a fall while …
Read More

OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE

New Quest Diagnostics Data Show Drug Use Among Workers Remains High

It may come as no surprise to urgent care providers who offer occupational medicine services such as drug testing, but …
Read More

Beware Patients Who’ll Go to Great—Great—Lengths to Pass Drug Tests

The opiate crisis and legalization of marijuana in some states has upped the ante for occupational medicine providers charged with …
Read More

Proposed Law Could Diminish Need for Workplace Drug Testing in California

As we’ve discussed here previously, the more widespread legalization of marijuana use around the country is presenting any number of …
Read More

Telemedicine Meets Occ Med Rehab in New Concentra Initiative in California

Workers who need to rehab injuries can now do so without schlepping to a physical therapy practice under a new …
Read More

Foundation of Occupational Medicine in the Urgent Care Setting

Urgent message: Much has been written about the integration of occupational medicine into urgent care practice. However, doing so successfully …
Read More

Revenue Cycle Management

Clarifying the Coding for Splint and Cast Application by Nonphysicians

Q: I would like clarification on an article I read in The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine (JUCM) online archive …
Read More

New Medicare Cards

Q: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) started issuing new Medicare cards to beneficiaries in April of this …
Read More

Reduction in Reimbursements for Modifier -25

Q: Last fall, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield sent a notice to physicians in several states regarding their intent to …
Read More

The Incidentals of ‘Incident-to’ Billing

Q: I plan to hire physician assistants and other nonphysician providers in my urgent care clinic. I understand that I …
Read More

Turning Patient Accounts Over to a Collection Agency—the Right Way

Q: Should patient accounts ever get turned over to a collection agency? A: The altruistic nature of running an urgent …
Read More

DEVELOPING DATA

Urgent Care Ownership: Corporations on the Rise, Physicians and Hospitals on the Decline

The urgent care industry—always revolutionary compared with other practice settings—is undergoing a revolution of its own. First, entrepreneurial physicians ruled …
Read More

One More Look at Head Injury Presentations in Urgent Care

In this issue, we’ve offered an urgent care perspective on which patients presenting with head injury are most likely to …
Read More

When is On-Demand Care Most In-Demand?

The combination of convenience and quality is the hallmark of the urgent care industry. As time goes on and patients …
Read More

A Snapshot of Flu Vaccination Rates

The ongoing 2017–18 flu season is already one of the worst in recent memory. Recently released data from the Centers …
Read More

Focusing on the Growth—and Healthcare Savings—of Urgent Care

We all know urgent care has been growing steadily, nearly since its inception. Hard data on the size of the …
Read More

Abstracts in Urgent Care

Abstracts in Urgent Care – July 2018

CDC Attributes 200+ Cases of Coagulopathy to Synthetic Cannaboids Key point: “Marijuana alternatives” are widely available—and being blamed for multiple …
Read More

Abstracts in Urgent Care – June 2018

Some Oral Antibiotics Up Risk for Kidney Stones Key point: Oral antibiotics are associated with an increased risk for nephrolithiasis …
Read More

Abstracts in Urgent Care – May 2018

Factors Influencing Provider Efficiency—or Inefficiency—in the ED Key point: Emergency department study on provider efficiency has relevance to urgent care …
Read More

Abstracts in Urgent Care – April 2018

ACP Eases Up on A1c Ceiling for Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Key point: The American College of Physicians suggests …
Read More

Abstracts in Urgent Care – March 2018

Confirmed Flu Ups Short-Term Risk for MI Key point:  Patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza are almost six times more likely to …
Read More

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Anger Management: Hostile Encounters in Urgent Care

Eliminating disruption, distraction, and dissatisfaction is paramount to delivering efficient and high-quality care these days. More than ever, urgent cares …
Read More

Slow Medicine: ‘Unprescribing’ America

#TimesUp; #NeverAgain; #Privacy; #OpioidCrisis; #BlackLivesMatter…. The last year has been a dramatic one for turning points in long-festering social issues …
Read More

Chasing Flu: Predictably Unpredictable

I have managed urgent cares for nearly 20 years and can officially say that predicting flu is for fools! Perhaps …
Read More

The Change Gang: Adopting a Disruptive Culture

We’ve all heard it: Why do we have to change? This is the way we’ve always done things! Change is …
Read More

Hiring Right Requires the Right Approach

Employing an organizational psychologist or paying for expensive employee screening services is simply not in the cards for most urgent …
Read More

Please log-in/sign-up to download these issues.