Ashley Blachford, Author at Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Urinary Retention Caused by a Urethral Stone Diagnosed with Point-of-Care Ultrasound: A Case Report

Urgent Message: Urethral obstruction can occur due to impacted urinary calculi. This etiology should be considered in patients with known or suspected history of kidney stones who present with urinary retention. Point-of-care ultrasound can be used to evaluate for and confirm this diagnosis in male patients, in whom the phenomenon is most likely. Nicholas Maenza, DO; Jeffrey Darko, MD Citation: Maenza N, Darko J. Urinary Retention Caused by a Urethral Stone Diagnosed with Point-of-Care Ultrasound: …

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 pediatric population. This secondary analysis of data from a quality improvement project in a network of pediatric urgent care centers used a machine learning approach to determine which variables on urinalysis most strongly predict a subsequently positive urine culture. Kari Flicker, BS; Jessica Parrott, DNP, CPNP-PC, CNE; Tammy Speerhas, DNP, FNP-C; Turaj Vazifedan, DHSc; Theresa Guins, MD; Jeffrey Bobrowitz, MD; …

Puffy Hand Syndrome: A Case Report

Urgent Message: Incorporating questions regarding the use of intravenous drugs may help ensure the diagnosis of puffy hand syndrome is included in the differential for patients presenting with bilateral hand swelling. Citation: Majeed I, VanDyke K. Puffy Hand Syndrome: A Case Report. J Urgent Care Med. 2024; 19 (2): 25-27 Abstract Introduction: Bilateral hand swelling is a common presentation in a variety of conditions, particularly rheumatological disorders. Urgent care (UC) providers can avoid unnecessary testing …

Are We Ready for a Day Without Urgent Care?

Rajesh Geria, MD; Patrick O’Malley, MD Every year, our nation’s 14,000 urgent care (UC) clinics care for nearly 206 million patients, equating to 564,383 patients every day across the country.[1] Imagine what would happen if there was no urgent care for just a single day. Now imagine that if that possibility lasted not just a day, but indefinitely. Unfortunately, many communities are at risk for this reality coming to pass. Decreasing reimbursement, clinician burnout, and …

Reflections

Clarity is a good thing, but achieving clarity isn’t always easy. It requires a deep understanding, and reaching that depth takes time and energy. It’s taken us a few years. In 2022, we got clarity around the role of the Urgent Care Association (UCA). For a long time, we tried hard to do anything that anyone in Urgent Care needed, and that led to a lot of good work but also a very unclear identity. …

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 year-end projects. As we celebrate the end of the year, it is important to also look ahead and lay the groundwork for revenue cycle management success in 2025. Following are some points to consider in your strategic plan for next year. Contract Renegotiations Understanding your payer agreements and your patient population will be instrumental to …

How Should an Urgent Care Handle Requests for Medical Records by Subpoena?

Urgent Message: Urgent care centers need documented, consistent, and reportable processes for receiving, tracking, responding to, and collecting payment on subpoenas for patient medical records. Citation: Ayers A. How Should an Urgent Care Handle Requests for Medical Records by Subpoena? J Urgent Care Med. 2024; 19(2): 29-32 Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc, is President of Urgent Care Consultants and is Senior Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. Medical records are the critical foundation …

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 Urgent Care Realty data. The charts above break down the footprint of urgent care centers by hospital affiliation, number of locations per operator, ages seen, and setting. From the data: 96% of urgent care centers treat all ages, whereas 4% specialize exclusively on pediatric populations 39% of urgent care centers are affiliated with a hospital …

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 ECG, may hold potential for identifying patients with acute myocardial ischemia; this may have significant implications for urgent care (UC) based chest pain risk stratification. Citation: Chattopadhyay S, Adjei F, Kardos A. Changes in Cardiac Electrical Biomarker in Response to Coronary Arterial Occlusion: An Experimental Observation. J Cardiovasc Transl Res. 2024 Aug;17(4):870-878. doi: 10.1007/s12265-024-10487-w. Relevance: …

Ruling: Whistleblowers Cannot File False Claims Lawsuits

In Florida, a US District Court recently ruled that whistleblowers cannot file False Claims Act lawsuits on behalf of the federal government—known as qui tam provisions—because it’s unconstitutional. Current or former employees often file False Claims Act suits when they suspect their employer is committing fraud or filing inaccurate Medicare and Medicaid claims. In 2023, the courts assessed in more than $2.3 billion in lawsuits from private whistleblowers in all industries, according to Reuters. The …

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