Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Providers Still Not Back to Normal After Change Cyberattack

Two months after the Change Healthcare cyberattack upended payments to a large percentage of the nation’s healthcare providers, organizations say they’re still suffering from the fallout, both financially and logistically, according to Kaiser Health News. Change parent company UnitedHealth Group indicated during a shareholder call on Tuesday, however, that business is largely back to normal, and its chief financial officer said that the company expects full operations to resume next year. The hacking has cost …

Thousands of Kids Getting Into Melatonin Gummies Present to ED

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported that 11,000 children and infants presented to emergency departments between 2019 and 2022 after ingesting melatonin. More concerning is that flavored gummy products—which look like candy—were involved in nearly 5,000 of those cases. More than half of accidental ingestions involved children between 3 and 5 years old, according to CDC. Melatonin products do not require child-resistant packaging, but the agency found about three-quarters of the …

Private Equity Bracing For Healthcare Bankruptcies

Private equity firms were responsible for a significant number of healthcare sector bankruptcies last year, and another round of bankruptcies is anticipated in 2024. Nearly all of the financially strained healthcare companies in the United States are under private equity ownership, according to a report from the nonprofit Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP), which analyzes the impact of private equity ownership across multiple industries. PESP reported that last year, private equity-backed companies accounted for at …

UCA and CUCM Elect New Board Members

As a key moment in the Urgent Care Association (UCA) Convention in Las Vegas last week, members elected a new board, led by Board President Scott Prysi, MD. The full list of board members is available on the UCA website. Additionally, the College of Urgent Care Medicine (CUCM) elected its new board members: Lindsey Fish, MD (also JUCM images editor); Roger Hicks, MD, FCUCM; Joshua Russell, MD, MSc, FACEP, FCUCM (also JUCM editor in chief); …

Alert Issued For Antibiotic-Resistant Campylobacter Infections

Clinicians should be on alert for cases of antibiotic-resistant Campylobacter infection in men who have sex with men (MSM), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) warned in an information note on its website. In February, PAHO identified an outbreak of drug-resistant Campylobacter in 13 MSM in Minnesota and several previous outbreaks in the United States and Canada that date back to 1999. Patients may be presenting with diarrhea with dysentery features, the organization says. Here’s …

Union Clinicians Strike Over Staffing Issues at Detroit ED

Workers went on an anticipated strike last week over ongoing dissatisfaction related to insufficient staffing and long wait times for patients in the emergency department (ED) at Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit. On April 18, union physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners walked out after their good-faith negotiations failed to result in an agreement, according to local news reports. The clinicians had formed the union less than a year ago to advocate for improved …

Antibiotics Don’t Reduce Cough for UC Patients With LRTI

Researchers studying 718 patients at primary care and urgent care sites found that antibiotics didn’t provide any benefit for patients with a cough caused by an acute lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI), as published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Evidence shows that antibiotic prescriptions actually were associated with a small increase in the duration of cough when patients receiving antibiotics were compared to those without. Time until resolution was the same whether the …

MA Charged For Alleged Sexual Assaults in Urgent Care Clinic

Several female patients have reported sexual assaults to police in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, after visiting a Carbon Health Urgent Care location in the area, leading to charges against a medical assistant (MA), according to Philly Voice. The MA was arrested, and authorities allege he took photos and videos of unsuspecting women, posed as a nurse, performed physical exams he was not authorized to do, and told a female patient to undress while he was in …

Alaska Considers Concierge Medicine

Lawmakers in Alaska have approved a bill to legalize subscription-based healthcare in the state. If signed into law by the governor, providers would be able to offer care to patients who pay a monthly fee without leveraging any insurance benefits, according to Anchorage Daily News. The bill includes a provision requiring subscription-based clinics to continue accepting Medicare patients and the uninsured. The provision is meant to address the shortage of providers willing to accept patients …

Flu Season Winds Down With Lower Than Average Visits in Early April

Outpatient visits for flu like illness are on a steady decline in the United States, indicating reduced activity of respiratory viruses including flu, COVID, and respiratory syncytial virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports the first week of April showed that visits for respiratory illness with fever plus a cough or sore throat fell to 2.8%, just below the national baseline of 2.9%. Positive labs for flu were down 7.7% since the …

« Previous