Industry

In a development that is sure to have implications in the United States healthcare marketplace, Ontario became the latest province in Canada to allow pharmacists to diagnose and prescribe medication for a finite list of acute ailments. According to a report from the CBC, it’s the second-to-last province to do so, with British Columbia being the only holdout at present. Only a handful of U.S. states have opted to let pharmacists “test and treat” a …

Physician assistants and nurse practitioners have become essential members of the urgent care clinical team. In some instances, they head the clinical team, and run their own urgent care operations. The desire to practice medicine in a unique environment isn’t the only draw for PAs, however. As reported by Becker’s Hospital Review, urgent care PAs rank third on the list of top 10 highest-compensated practice settings. Quoting information from the 2022 Advanced Practice Provider Compensation …

The contributions of nurse practitioners and physician assistants (known collectively as advanced practice providers, or APPs) have come to be invaluable in urgent care practices. With physicians in shorter supply and greater demand, the argument could be made that NPs and PAs are essential in keeping some urgent care operations afloat. The question of how much physician oversight should be required remains a controversial one—though in some states rules are relaxing to the point that …

Let’s get the headline-grabbing part of the story out of the way first: According to an article published online, an 8-year-old boy in India defended himself against an attack by a deadly cobra by biting the snake back—with the reptile ultimately succumbing to its own injuries and the boy surviving. The less sensational, but possibly more impactful aspect of the story is that the boy received treatment not at a hospital or community health clinic, …

We’re all well aware that urgent care centers are wrestling with shortages of clinical staff, x-ray technicians, and various other essential positions. It’s especially challenging when patient visits start to swell, such as during flu season. Be aware that the situation could get dire as the weeks roll on, however. According to an article just published by Becker’s Hospital Review, drugstores are having their own troubles with pharmacist staffing—and it’s starting to hinder their ability …

Urgent care has made its reputation on being able to offer a wide array of services for patients who don’t need to go to the emergency room but who shouldn’t wait days to go to a primary care practice. For reasons that are many (and valid), that has not extended to patients who need access to mental health services. Most obviously, it’s not what most urgent care centers were created to do, and so are …

At first glance, Walgreens’ plan to partner with Uber and DoorDash to provide free delivery of Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir tablets; ritonavir tablets) for COVID-19 patients in underserved communities looks like a great plan that could be invaluable in warding off a winter surge. Look a bit deeper, though, and it’s unclear exactly how effective the plan will be. Most problematically, it presumes that those underserved communities have a Walgreens nearby and that the ride share and …

As countless adages would attest, most of the scenarios we worry about never come to fruition. Unfortunately, new data on the healthcare workforce indicate that concerns about provider shortages are an exception. According to a Definitive Healthcare report entitled Addressing the Healthcare Staffing Shortage, the United States healthcare system lost 333,942 providers in 2021—with the majority (117,000) being physicians. The grand total also included 75,999 advanced-practice practitioners (53,295 nurse practitioners and 22,704 physician assistants). Internal …

Last year saw more patients leave emergency rooms without being seen than ever before, according to research published by JAMA Network Open. Per data collected between 2017 and 2021 from between 365 and 1,769 hospital EDs (it varied by year), the rate of patients who left the ED without being seen jumped from 1.1% to 2.1% in the United States. While their destination upon leaving the ED was not part of the study, it’s reasonable …

Urgent care has thrived by proving to be a safe, cost-effective alternative to hospital emergency rooms for nonemergent complaints. In some areas of the U.S., urgent care centers may become more than an “alternative” to care soon, though. Becker’s Hospital Review reports that 17 hospitals from New Jersey to California are cutting back on services that would surely be described as “essential” to many patients. While obstetrics and maternity seem to be the most likely …