Ashley Blachford, Author at Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Boston Health Leaders Agree to Direct Patients to Urgent Care This Summer

Healthcare leaders in eastern Massachusetts have agreed to a 90-day collaborative initiative to address the expected surge in local emergency department visits this summer, according to NBC Boston. Plans call for directing more patients to urgent care facilities when appropriate. Last week, the state department of insurance issued a memo detailing plans for insurers and urgent care providers aimed at managing the “typically high” volume of emergency room visits from July 3 to October 1. …

Flu and COVID Vaccines Recommended for Pretty Much Everyone This Fall

In a new brief, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that everyone ages 6 months and older receive an updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine and flu vaccine once the updated formulations become available this fall—ideally aiming for vaccination in September or October. A few distinct situations have varying dosing schedules for flu vaccines. Just as one example, CDC said adults (especially those 65 years old and older) and pregnant moms in the first …

Patients Confused by ‘Urgent Care’ Label on Hospital EDs

How free-standing emergency departments (EDs) present themselves to the community continues to cause confusion for patients, ultimately leading to unexpectedly higher medical bills and negative overall experiences. Some free-standing EDs have the term “urgent care” in their name, which many believe is misleading. And now there is at least one effort to investigate a class action lawsuit for patients who accessed what they believed was urgent care—based on the facility’s sign out front—only to find …

29-Year-Old With Chronic Hip Pain

A 29-year-old man presents to urgent care complaining of chronic right hip pain with movement and exercise. He’s an avid mountain climber and used to play sports in college. Review the images and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the following page.

70-Year-Old With Fatigue and Edema

A 70-year-old male with a history of atrial fibrillation presents to urgent care for 1 week of fatigue and edema of the lower extremities and face. An ECG is obtained. View the ECG captured above and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page. Case presented by Joe Stockhausen, MD

56-Year-Old With Cancer and Developing Rash

A 56-year-old woman presents to urgent care for a rash that developed on her hands, ears, and nose over the last couple of months. She has a recent diagnosis of esophageal cancer. On examination, hyperkeratotic plaques were seen on the palm and fingers, and scaly papules were seen on her helices and nose. Her nails displayed subungual hyperkeratosis, onychodystrophy, and onycholysis along with erythema and edema on her nail folds. View the image below and …

Patient Arrival Times In Urgent Care

The table above shows the percentage of patients within an average day who arrived during each hour of operations, based on more than 13,000,000 patient encounters from January 1 to March 31, 2024, recorded in the Experity EMR. A patient arriving anywhere between 7:00AM and 7:59AM, for example, is categorized as arriving during the 7:00AM hour. This data is useful in determining staffing levels and opening hours. If the number of patient arrivals per hour …

Rising Dengue Fever Cases Outpacing Last Year

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a health advisory this week related to a significant increase in dengue fever cases in the United States, according to NBC News. There have been 2,241 reported cases across the country this year so far, compared to the recorded 3,036 cases from all of 2023. More than 1,498 dengue fever cases occurred in Puerto Rico, where a public health emergency was declared in March. Globally, the …

Substantial Number of GLP-1 Drugs in the Pipeline Hint at Lower Future Costs

Drugmakers are developing new iterations of GLP-1 weight loss drugs that could result in fewer side effects. According to a news item in Becker’s Hospital Review, 27 GLP-1 drugs are in development, but the majority of the data is based on animal studies or early-stage human trials. In one example, researchers are optimistic about the experimental drug petrelinitide, which was shown to reduce body weight by an average of nearly 9% at 16 weeks. It …

What Did We Learn From the Change Healthcare Outage?

Phyllis Dobberstein, CPC, CPMA, CPCO, CEMC, CCC Nearly all of us in the healthcare ecosystem were impacted by the cyberattack on Change Healthcare in February that caused widespread network disruptions. Change Healthcare processes 15 billion healthcare transactions annually and is connected to one-third of patient medical records in the United States. More than 100 Change Healthcare applications across pharmacy, medical, dental, patient engagement, and payment services were affected by the disruptions. Months later, United Health Group …