Practice Management
Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare’s insurance division, was shot and killed outside of a hotel in New York City on December 4, according to news reports. The 50-year-old Thompson has worked for the company for 20 years and was promoted to the chief executive position in 2021. UnitedHealth Group leadership canceled the day’s scheduled investor event immediately after the incident. He was described as an “extraordinary person” in a video sent to employees. Thompson was …
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In a new study of children 6 to 18 months of age, researchers found the odds of receiving first-line antibiotic therapy in pediatric urgent care centers (PUCs) were lower among White children and those with commercial insurance than in other groups. Authors of the study presented in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology looked at guideline-recommended first-line antibiotics for acute respiratory infections (ARIs) for 396,340 encounters at 28 PUCs in the United States over 1 year. …
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The United Kingdom’s Health Security Agency has now contracted with a supplier to purchase more than 5 million doses of human H5N1 avian flu vaccine to prepare the country should an avian flu pandemic occur. The virus has been causing a prolonged global outbreak with new cases emerging in humans recently—although the risk still remains quite low. Poultry and dairy cattle are the most likely animals to experience outbreaks of the virus, and thousands of …
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation and a number of its partners issued a joint advisory last week, highlighting cybercriminal activities by a ransomware group known as BianLian. With a history of attacking the healthcare sector, BianLian has targeted various other industries as well. The group gains system access using legitimate remote desktop protocol credentials then steals system-user credentials. The hackers then extort the target organizations by threatening to publicly release the stolen data. By using …
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Almost half a million Americans who currently do not have health insurance have signed up for a new 2025 health plan through the federal Health Insurance Marketplace so far, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reports. To put the numbers in context, about 8.2% of Americans (27 million people) were uninsured this year, compared to 16% in 2010, according to federal data. And there are still a few weeks left in open enrollment. The …
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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) presented the preliminary results of new research on montelukast at the American College of Toxicology meeting recently, describing potential side-effect risks for the oral asthma drug. Montelukast may be leading to mental health conditions and suicide by attaching to multiple brain receptors that are involved in psychiatric functioning, researchers say. According to Reuters, thousands of patients have reported neuropsychiatric episodes, prompting the FDA to launch a comprehensive investigation and …
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CEO Tim Barry, the founder and top executive of VillageMD, is stepping down from his role as the company faces significant financial difficulties. Majority owner Walgreens Boots Alliance has reported substantial losses amounting to billions of dollars, according to Forbes. VillageMD has struggled for more than a decade to attract patients to its clinics located within Walgreens retail stores. This has led to a sharp reduction in its intended expansion plans to stand up clinics …
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Every time I am able to gather in person with other Urgent Care professionals, I come away enriched and invigorated for the future of our practice. No matter the challenges that we may be facing as an industry or a specialty, there is a stubborn optimism that infuses these events and the people that participate as speakers, exhibitors, planners or attendees. These events are perfect examples of what the Urgent Care Association (UCA) stands for, …
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Shomel Gauznabi, MBChB, FRNZCGP, FRACGP, FRNZCUC, MD; Ivan Koay, MBChB, MRCS, FRNZCUC, MD Urgent Message: There is literature supporting that regional anesthesia, specifically hematoma blocks, is a safe, effective, and well tolerated alternative to procedural sedation for the management of pediatric forearm fractures. Citation: Gauznabi S, Koay I. Systematic Rapid Review: Efficacy of Hematoma Blocks for Pediatric Forearm Fractures. J Urgent Care Med. 2024; 19(x):42-50 Key Words: pediatric forearm fractures, anesthesia, hematoma blocks, urgent care …
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ECG Interpretation: Humans Vs Machines Take Home Point: In this study, cardiologists and emergency physicians (EP) had greater accuracy for electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation than current versions of ChatGPT and Gemini. Citation: Günay S, Öztürk A, Yiğit Y. The accuracy of Gemini, GPT-4, and GPT-4o in ECG analysis: A comparison with cardiologists and emergency medicine specialists. Am J Emerg Med. 2024 Oct:84:68-73. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2024.07.043. Relevance: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly evolving and becoming an integral part …
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