Practice Management
Steve Sellars February always seems to arrive with a sense of motion. The year is no longer “new,” plans begin to take shape, and the work ahead becomes clearer. For Urgent Care, that momentum feels especially meaningful right now. During the first week of February, the Urgent Care Association (UCA) convened leaders from across the country in Washington, D.C., for our 2026 Capitol Hill Advocacy Day. It was a powerful reminder of what happens when …
Read More
At least 35 people have been sickened in a histoplasmosis outbreak in Tennessee in the past 3 months with 1 potentially related death, according to state health officials and a local news report. The Tennessee Department of Health has not found a clear source of exposure but warns the Histoplasma fungus is commonly found in soil throughout the state, making it difficult to prevent exposure. People with weakened immune systems are at a higher risk …
Read More
Advanced practice professionals (APPs) in the University of Michigan Health−Sparrow network have voted in favor of unionizing. The network includes at least 5 urgent care centers, according to its website. The new union local covers 213 nurse practitioners (NPs), physician assistants (PAs), and certified nurse midwives employed by the health system. A representative told the local Lansing State Journal that having a union means being able to negotiate for the best patient care practices. Overall, …
Read More
Just as high flu activity has patients and providers on edge, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists(ASHP) is noting a drug shortage of some types of oseltamivir oral capsules and powders. Likewise, GoodRx data through January 20, 2026, shows a peak of oseltamivir fills in the last week of December 2025, followed by a more recent drop, possibly indicating that the medications could be in short supply and/or indicating fewer prescriptions overall. Federal agencies state …
Read More
Several healthcare organizations have asked the Centers For Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in a letter to provide specific written guidance on appropriate emergency department (ED) signage that would notify patients of programs or policies regarding violence against healthcare workers. In previous interactions, the organizations say CMS discouraged this type of signage if the signs “could deter individuals from remaining for medical screening examinations and stabilizing treatment.” However, CMS didn’t clarify what type of sign …
Read More
Urgent Message: The urgent care industry is pivoting from a phase of rapid footprint expansion to one of sustainable sophistication, driven by the integration of AI, the diversification of high-value services (like behavioral health), and a rigorous focus on operational and financial resilience to meet modern consumer expectations. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is President of Urgent Care Consultants and is Senior Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine For the past decade, the …
Read More
A narrative review of literature exploring patient triage found that structured, evidence-based systems that differentiate between emergency departments (EDs), urgent care (UC), and primary care can be useful in scaling down the inappropriate use of EDs. Published in Cureus, the editorial concluded that the specificity of triage systems in terms of identifying true ED cases ranges from 85-95%. Additionally, the author found several features of UC visits that were superior to comparable ED metrics. Urgent …
Read More
Adult outpatients with unspecified community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) rarely receive diagnostic testing for blastomycosis, coccidioidomycosis, or histoplasmosis, however repeat visits seem to drive this testing, according to a retrospective study of commercial insurance claims published in JAMA Network Open. Among 573,994 CAP patients seen from 2017–2023, only 5% underwent diagnostic testing for blastomycosis, coccidioidomycosis, or histoplasmosis, and those tests typically occurred after a median of 3 patient visits. Of those tested, 3% received a fungal disease …
Read More
The United States now spends $15,474 per person on healthcare for a total of $5.3 trillion in spending overall in 2024, according new federal data reported by Health Affairs. For 2 years in a row, health spending increases have topped 7% (7.4% in 2023; 7.2% in 2024). Increased demand for care and higher intensity of services are the main drivers of growth, according to the analysis. Year Total Expenditures (trillions) Expenditures Per Capita 2018 $3.6 …
Read More
A study of general internal medicine physicians from 2 ambulatory practice networks evaluated whether reserving protected time for EHR tasks—such as messaging, prior authorizations, or medication refills—affects physician productivity and hands-on EHR time. Researchers compared 130 general internal medicine physicians (41 in the intervention group and 89 in the control group) from November 2021 to June 2024 and set aside 1 appointment slot per half-day (20-30 minutes) dedicated to asynchronous EHR tasks. As published in …
Read More