Urgent Care News

WHO Wants the World to Skip the Salt

The World Health Organization released a detailed report on high blood pressure, emphasizing the condition …
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Mercy Health Building New UC Centers 

Mercy Health, a hospital system based in Cincinnati, Ohio, recently opened four new urgent care …
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Researchers Develop Mpox Point of Care Test

Last spring, a global outbreak of mpox (formerly known as “monkey pox”) spread to 110 …
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Parents Accidentally Double Dose Kids’ ADHD Meds

Researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio found a disturbing number of preventable mistakes made …
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Loss of Taste or Smell a Less Likely COVID-19 Symptom

Clinical teams are facing some difficulty in distinguishing between COVID-19, allergies, and the common cold …
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Web Exclusive Articles

A New 4-Year-Old Patient with Fever and Sore Throat After a COVID Exposure

Bradley L. Laymon, PA-C, CPC, CEMC PRESENTATION A mother brings in her 4-year-old, who has …
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Code Case Files: An Established Adult Male Patient with 2 Days of COVID-Like Symptoms

Bradley L. Laymon, PA-C, CPC, CEMC PRESENTATION A 47-year-old established male patient presented after 2 …
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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 …
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Repairing Parallel Lacerations in the Urgent Care Center

Urgent message: Parallel lacerations or those that simply occur in close proximity pose a unique …
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Getting the Most Out of Your Urgent Care Google Ads Budget in 2022

Urgent message: As urgent care volume has dropped from pandemic highs, the average cost per …
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Clinical Articles

HbA1c Screening for Diabetes

HbA1c as Screening/Diagnoses for Early or Asymptomatic Diabetes in the Urgent Care Facility

Urgent message: The use of all-inclusive kits with compact, table-top analyzers provides a rapid quantification of HbA1c levels in patients …
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Low-dose naltrexone (LDN)

Management of Patients on Low-Dose Naltrexone: A Clinical Review for Urgent Care Providers

Urgent message: Low-dose naltrexone (LDN) is becoming more common as a treatment option for pain and thus will be increasingly …
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Six Tips to Bulletproof Your Chart

Six Tips to Bulletproof Your Chart: Lessons from the Exam Room and the Court Room

Click Here to download the article PDF Urgent message: In the event that you are taken to court over care …
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Urgent Care Back Pain Documentation

Back Pain, an Urgent Care Visit—and a Devastating Outcome

Click Here to download the PDF Urgent message: By the time an adverse outcome occurs in the urgent care center, …
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Practice Management Articles

Urgent Care Run School-Based Health Centers

Innovation and Sustainability: Urgent Care Run School-Based Health Centers Improve Community Health

Urgent message: By leveraging grant funding, community-facing services, and a collaborative model with school districts, QUICKmed Urgent Care operates a …
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Urgent Care’s Top Hospital-Affiliated Urgent Care Operators—by Number of Locations

The makeup of the urgent care industry has changed considerably since its inception in the 1970s. At the time, it …
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“Big Retail” Pivots Are a Retreat from “On Demand” Care

Click Here to download the article PDF Urgent message: Food, drug, and mass retailers continue to explore the healthcare space …
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Urgent Care’s Top 100—by Number of Locations

Click Here to download the article PDF If urgent care had a family tree, it would show an ancestry rich …
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CASE REPORTS

Myotendinous Rupture of Pectoralis Major: A Case Report

Urgent message: Nonspecific presentation and time lapsed between injury and presenting to urgent care can delay …
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COVID-19 and RSV: Coinfection Requiring Hospitalization

Click Here to download the article PDF. Urgent message: Coinfection with COVID-19 and other respiratory pathogens …
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More than a Simple Headache: Using the SNNOOP10 Criteria to Screen for Life-Threatening Headache Presentations

Click Here to download the article PDF Urgent message: Headache is most often a benign complaint …
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No Butts About it: Approaching Anorectal Abscesses in the Urgent Care Center

Click Here to Download the PDF Urgent message: Given the high rate of systemic involvement in …
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Point of Care Ultrasound Diagnosis of Ruptured Ectopic Pregnancy in an Urgent Care Setting

Urgent message: Though use of point-of-care ultrasound in the evaluation of first trimester pregnancy complaints is …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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Avoiding Defamation Lawsuits in Urgent Care

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

A 75-Year-Old Female with Dizziness and a Slow Heartbeat

The patient is a 75-year-old female who presents with dizziness and a slow heartbeat. She has a history of hypertension …
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A 49-Year-Old with a 4-Week-Old Lesion on Her Toe

A 49-year-old woman presents with a lesion that developed over her right toe over the past 4 weeks. It is …
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A 69-Year-Old with Neck Pain After a Car Crash

A 69-year-old man presents with “neck pain” after a care crash. Lateral and oblique views of the lower cervical spine …
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A 67-Year-Old Male with Chest Pain, Dyspnea, and a History of Lung Cancer

Click Here to download the article PDF. A 67-year-old male presents to urgent care complaining of pleuritic chest pain and …
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A 23-Year-Old with a Pruritic, Spreading Rash

Click Here to download the article PDF. A 23-year-old woman presents with a severely pruritic rash that developed on her …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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Revenue Cycle Management

Is It Time to Revisit Your Urgent Care Marketing Tactics?

Heather Real Click Here to download the article PDF In the journey of an urgent care visit, where does the …
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Modifier 25: What You Need to Know

Phyllis Dobberstein, CPC, CPMA, CPCO, CEMC, CCC Modifier 25 is used to indicate a significant, separately identifiable evaluation and management …
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De Novo vs Acquisition: What’s the Best Pathway for Urgent Care Growth?

Click Here to download the article PDF Urgent message: When considering growth in urgent care, there are both advantages and …
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End of the Public Health Emergency: What’s Next?

Click Here to the download PDF. With expiration of the national Public Health Emergency (PHE) as of May 11, the …
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Identifying (and Resolving) Common Billing Pitfalls

Denials and rejections are inevitable in medical billing and can have drastic repercussions on the overall profit of an urgent …
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DEVELOPING DATA

In-Office Dispensing: The Good, the Bad, and the Unlikely

On paper (so to speak), in-office prescribing in the urgent care center would seem to be a no-brainer for all …
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There’s No Casual Approach to Improving Antibiotic Stewardship—but When You Make the Effort, It Works

Improving antibiotic stewardship was an industry-wide mandate even before a 2018 study indicated that urgent care appeared to be more …
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That Notion That Urgent Care Centers Help Volume in the ED? It’s True

One of the key “selling” points of urgent care has always been that if patients who don’t have limb- or …
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The 10-Year Trend on UC Claim Lines Is Strong—in the City and in the Country

Click Here to download the PDF. Believe it or not, just a decade ago urgent care accounted for barely 6% …
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Despite Challenges, Urgent Care Acuity Remains High

There’s been a bit of discussion in the urgent care industry (including in JUCM articles of late) concerning a perceived …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care

Abstracts in Urgent Care – September 2023

Course of Antibiotics for Pediatric UTI Link Between Influenza and Myocardial Infarction Make the Most of Patient’s Wait Times Cognitive …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care – July/August 2023

Click Here to download the article PDF. Pediatric Lyme Disease and Race Predictive Value (or not?) of Hyperacute T-Waves POC …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care – June 2023

Click Here to download the article PDF Ivan Koay MBChB, MRCS, FRNZCUC, MD Employing Virtual Reality with Anxious Children Assessing …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care – May 2023

Click Here to download the PDF Telltale Signs of Testicular Torsion Preventing RSV in Young Patients Lactational Mastitis Cephalexin in Cellulitis …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care – April 2023

Responsible Antibiotic Use in SSTIs Assessing for and Managing Head Lice Infestation Safe Discharge of Chest Pain Patients Digital Rectal …
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Analogy: A Powerful and Underutilized Bedside Tool

Joshua Russell, MD, MSc, FCUCM, FACEP Click Here to download the article PDF Sophie was back with another one of …
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It’s Time to Think Differently about Follow-up

Click Here to download the PDF In the macro and “dot phrase” era, there are many refrains that appear in …
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Conquering the Fear of Penicillin Allergy: The Boogeyman of Urgent Care

I had time to see one more patient as my shift was winding down. “Wound check. That should be a …
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Which ED Referrals Are Appropriate? The Problem of Perspective

Joshua Russell, MD, MSc, FCUCM, FACEP I didn’t want to send her to the ER, but what else could I …
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The Value of Repeat Vital Signs

Joshua Russell, MD, MSc, FCUCM, FACEP I’m just going say it: we should repeat vital signs more often in urgent …
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