Practice Management
A patient recently told local news outlet Arizona’s Family that she was locked inside an urgent care center in Phoenix just as the staff was leaving for the day. After trying an exit door and setting off an alarm, the patient was later let out by a staff member who had already left the center. The patient—who spoke on the condition of anonymity—was seen at the end of the day and had been waiting in …
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A directive issued in April from the federal Office of Management and Budget calls on each federal agency to appoint a chief artificial intelligence (AI) officer by early June, according to Becker’s. New officers will be tasked with overseeing AI adoption, ensuring compliance with risk management protocols, and building an AI-ready workforce. In response, the Department of Health and Human Services created its new position of Chief AI Officer and named Peter Bowman-Davis, a Yale …
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The U.S. infant mortality rate declined in 2024 after remaining steady during the waning years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some health experts attribute this improvement, at least in part, to the new vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which became widely available for prevention of severe RSV among infants and young children during the 2024–2025 respiratory virus season. Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows the national infant mortality rate …
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The World Health Organization (WHO) offered a reminder this week that healthcare organizations and frontline health professionals should prioritize and revisit their hand hygiene practices. As a well-established and low-cost practice, proper hand hygiene safeguards patients and clinicians from infection, WHO says. Protective gloves reduce the risk of infection transmission, but they should not be used as a replacement for basic hand hygiene. Gloves can become contaminated and are frequently misused—such as being worn continuously …
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Earlier this week, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health declared a hepatitis A outbreak after seeing a sustained increase in clinical cases of hepatitis A and elevated virus levels in local wastewater. At least 165 hepatitis A cases were confirmed in LA County since the beginning of 2024—3 times the number of cases reported in all of 2023. What’s concerning is that among the 29 hepatitis A cases confirmed to date in 2025, …
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The Urgent Care Association (UCA) recently launched its new map-based career platform for prospective candidates and urgent care employers. UCA’s Urgent Care Compass features the full slate of 15,000 urgent care centers across the United States, enabling career hunters to apply to the roles that attract them the most in the places they prefer to work. What’s different about the new platform is the intuitive mapping feature that offers visual suggestions for candidates to find …
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One of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s work groups is considering backpedaling universal COVID-19 vaccine recommendations—the current thinking—in favor of recommendations based on individual risk for the occurrence of more severe disease. If the suggestion advances, guidance would still call for adults aged 65 years and older as well as anyone with underlying health risks to receive at least 2 doses of the COVID vaccine every year. However, anyone outside of the high-risk …
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The current number of measles cases is likely higher than what has been reported by health authorities, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) official speaking at an agency meeting, as reported by CBS. As of April 11, 2025, a total of 712 confirmed measles cases were reported across 7 outbreaks with 97% of the cases occurring in people who are unvaccinated or have an unknown vaccine status. At least 70% of …
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Last week, the Food and Drug Administration seized several hundred counterfeit semaglutide 1mg injection units that were found in the U.S. drug supply. The agency advises any provider who prescribes or treats patients with semaglutide to check the products for those labeled with lot number PAR0362 and serial numbers starting with the digits 51746517. Counterfeits will contain both of these label features, according to manufacturer Novo Nordisk. It is important to note that lot number …
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KidMed Pediatric Urgent Care in Gulfport, Mississippi, was awarded the Certified Autism Center credential from the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards this month. To earn the designation, KidMed participated in onsite reviews, and staff completed training on practices, skills, and resources to best care for sensory-sensitive children and those on the autism spectrum, according to a press release. Enhancements include dimmable lighting, noise reduction, visual aid cards, and sensory-friendly spaces. KidMed is …
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