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In each issue on this page, we report on research from or relevant to the emerging urgent care marketplace. This month, we begin delving into a report whose top-line data made headlines around the country recently. The article, Many Emergency Department Visits Could Be Managed at Urgent Care Centers and Retail Clinics,1 went beyond the conclusion stated in its title, offering a snapshot of how patients exercise their freedom to choose among those three settings.

One particular data set compared medications prescribed in the urgent care center vs. those prescribed in the ED. This month, we spotlight the rate at which various classes of antibiotics are prescribed.

Developing Data: January, 2011