Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Practice Management

 

Urgent Care News

What Helps Low Back Pain? Not Much.

Back pain seems to trouble a significant percentage of adults, inspiring some to seek medical …
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Health Hasn’t Rebounded Since the Pandemic: Poll

Americans’ self-reported mental and physical health has declined over the past decade with a sharper …
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Cannabis Use Increases Myocardial Infarction Risk

There is an association between cannabis use and cardiovascular risks, particularly myocardial infarction (MI), in …
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Radiation Exposure Varies Widely in CT Scans, Medicare Wants Data

New regulations that began in January require hospitals and outpatient centers in certain Medicare quality …
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Nitrous Oxide Inhalation Leads to Increase in Adverse Events: FDA

Health officials are raising concern about easily obtained products that have names such as Cosmic …
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Original Research Articles

Comparing Outcomes for Outpatients Treated With Cephalexin for Uncomplicated Cystitis: Is QID Dosing Necessary?

Urgent Message: Patients commonly seek unscheduled care for urinary tract infections (UTIs). Cephalexin is among …
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Systematic Rapid Review: Efficacy of Hematoma Blocks for Pediatric Forearm Fractures

Shomel Gauznabi, MBChB, FRNZCGP, FRACGP, FRNZCUC, MD; Ivan Koay, MBChB, MRCS, FRNZCUC, MD Urgent Message: …
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Development of a Positive Urinalysis Criteria Using a Machine Learning Approach

Urgent Message: There are no consensus definitions for what defines a “positive” urinalysis in the …
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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 …
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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 …
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Clinical Articles

Postpartum Headache Presentations to Urgent Care

Postpartum Presentations: When Risk Arises After Delivery – Headache

Urgent Message: Both common and serious postpartum conditions may present in urgent care. Headache presentations should prompt consideration for possible …
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Tuberculosis Screening

Clinical Review of Current Best Practices for Tuberculosis Screening, Testing, and Treatment in the Urgent Care Setting

Urgent Message: Patients may present with needs surrounding tuberculosis (TB) screening, testing, and treatment to urgent care centers. There is …
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Diverticulitis Assessment in urgent Care

Urgent Care Assessment of Patients with Possible Diverticulitis

Urgent Message: Diverticulitis is a prevalent condition characterized by localized inflammation most commonly of the sigmoid colon. It is often …
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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 …
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Practice Management Articles

Shorter Visits Drive Greater Patient Satisfaction in Urgent Care

Shorter Visits Drive Greater Patient Satisfaction in Urgent Care

Urgent Message: Urgent care has long marketed itself as providing immediate care for acutely rising conditions, and true to this …
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Legality of Docking the Pay in Urgent Care

The Legality of Docking the Pay of Urgent Care Employees

Urgent Message: While legal under circumstances outlined by federal and state law, docking employee pay for violating an employer’s policies …
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STARTING AN URGENT CARE

Starting an Urgent Care in a New Era

Urgent Message: Today, there are very few market opportunities for urgent care that present no competition, so operators must assess …
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Reimagining Retail Pharmacy

Reimagining Retail Pharmacy as Major Chains Downsize Offerings

Urgent Message: As retail pharmacies reinvent themselves, urgent care has an opportunity to grow within the shifting market dynamic. Alan …
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Insights in Images Challenges

CASE REPORTS

Death After Delayed Diagnosis of Acute Epiglottitis in an Adult Patient Initially Seen in Urgent Care: A Case Report

Urgent Message: Epiglottitis is a potentially fatal condition that has undergone a changing etiology in the …
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Looking Beyond the Mouth–A Rare Case of Acute Glaucoma Presenting with Dental Pain: A Case Report

Urgent Message: Acute angle closure glaucoma can present with a variety of types of head and …
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A 2-Year-Old Girl With Respiratory Distress And Altered Mental Status: A Case Report

Urgent Message: While children presenting to urgent care centers usually have minor illnesses, attentiveness to vital …
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Uncovering the Unexpected: A Case of Chronic Cough in an Adolescent with an Unusual Etiology

Urgent Message: Chronic cough has a distinct differential diagnosis in different age groups. A cough lasting …
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Abdominal Pseudohernia and Urinary Retention Due to Spinal Nerve Root Compression From Disc Herniation: A Case Report

Urgent Message: Abdominal pseudohernia is a rare diagnosis with variable presentation. Urgent care clinicians who are …
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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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JUCM CAREER CENTER

Download Past Issues

 

JUCM Clinical 2025

March 2025: Postpartum Headache: When to Suspect Serious Conditions

VIEW ISSUES ARCHIVE

CLINICAL CHALLENGES

7-Year-Old With Playground Injury

A 7-year-old boy presents to urgent care with his worried mother after he fell off a swing at daycare. He …
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57-Year-Old with Left Foot Pain

A 57-year-old man presents to the urgent care with a 3-day history of left foot pain and swelling after walking …
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68-Year-Old With Dyspnea

A 68-year-old female presents to urgent care with dyspnea for 2 days. She has a medical history of heart failure …
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45-Year-Old With Painful Ankle Lesion

A 45-year-old woman presents to urgent care with a painful area that developed on her right ankle 2 weeks prior …
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16-Year-Old With Hip Pain

A 16-year-old female presents to urgent care with her mother after soccer practice at school. She says she felt a …
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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

What’s New in Telemedicine for 2025?

Phyllis Dobberstein, CPC, CPMA, CPCO, CEMC, CCC The American Medical Association (AMA) added a Telemedicine Services category to the Evaluation …
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How ‘Data Reviewed’ Works When Coding E/M

Phyllis Dobberstein, CPC, CPMA, CPCO, CEMC, CCC Three elements determine the level for evaluation and management coding (E/M). “Amount and/or …
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Look Ahead For RCM Success

We are deep into the fourth quarter of 2024, and you are probably preparing for the holidays and wrapping up …
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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 …
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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 …
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DEVELOPING DATA

Urgent Care Rooftop Growth Slowed

The urgent care industry ended 2024 with a total of 14,356 centers, representing an increase of 392 centers or 2.8% …
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Retail Clinic Rooftops Retreat from 2023 Peak

Between May, 20231 and December, 2024, the number of retail-host clinics in the United States fell 21.7% from 1,750 to …
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Provider Compensation Increasing Since 2022

By comparing 2022 and 2024 hourly compensation data from the Urgent Care Association (UCA) Clinician Compensation Benchmarking Report, data shows …
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Laceration Repairs Decline in Urgent Care

The percentage of urgent care visits involving a laceration procedure increased slightly from 0.75% in 2023 to 0.76% year-to-date in …
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Size and Ownership of U.S. Urgent Care Centers

As of September, 2024, there are a total of 14,245 urgent care centers in the United States, according to National …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care

Abstracts in Urgent Care – March 2025

Developing Procedural Mastery With Slit Lamp Use Take Home Point: Simulation-based mastery learning (SBML) intervention improved emergency physicians’ confidence in …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care – February 2025

Concussion Recovery in Young Children   Take Home Point: This study suggests that children aged 5-12 years old with concussion …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care – January 2025

Hematoma Blocks Effective for Closed Forearm Reduction Take Home Point: Hematoma blocks are an effective method of achieving analgesia to …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care – December 2024

ECG Interpretation: Humans Vs Machines Take Home Point: In this study, cardiologists and emergency physicians (EP) had greater accuracy for …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care – November 2024

Sophistication of ECG for Detection of Acute Coronary Syndromes Take Home Point: Cardiac electrical biomarker (CEB), a finding detectable on …
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

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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‘Health Data Obsessive Disorder’—A Modern Epidemic

“Low blood sugar” was his chief complaint, but Thomas was in my urgent care (UC) mostly because he was feeling …
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‘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 …
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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 …
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‘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 …
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