Practice Management
It wasn’t long ago that we shared data, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, indicating that a 3-day course of remdesivir reduced risk for hospitalization or death in patients with COVID-19 and certain comorbidities but who had not yet been hospitalized with the virus. Since then—starting with misinformation shared during a panel discussion in the U.S. Senate—there has been chatter that rather than saving lives, use of remdesivir actually increases risk of death …
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The federal government has begun distributing a billion at-home COVID-19 tests (that’s roughly eight per household). Some hospitals have already been handing them out to patients upon discharge, as well. While at first that may seem to negate, or at least lower, the need for testing in your urgent care center, the truth may ultimately be that patients will be reminded just how much they need your expertise. There have been reports that some hospital-distributed …
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The ongoing story of the COVID-19 pandemic is a big bag of mixed messages these days. The Omicron variant is more transmissible, but less likely to lead to serious illness in most otherwise-healthy patients. The death rate is far lower than it was earlier in the pandemic, but hospitalizations are soaring again. What is not a mixed message is the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s key message, as outlined by Director …
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Though COVID-19 case numbers are slowly coming down in some regions of the United States, the Omicron variant still driving hospitalization rates higher from coast to coast. So, it’s a bit daunting to learn that a “new” subvariant of Omicron, dubbed BA.2, has been reported in 40 countries—including the U.S.—as of January 24. According to the World Health Organization, BA.2 comprises four lineages: B.1.1.529, BA.1, BA.2 and BA.3. While mainstream media outlets have quoted various scientists …
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On the one hand, it makes sense that employers and school systems want to ensure that people who have been out due to COVID-19 are in the clear before they report back for work or classes. On the other hand, the fact that they’re requiring a clearance note from a physician before allowing them back in the door is proving to be a logistical nightmare for many practices. Multiple health systems and county health departments …
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It took a relatively long time for urgent care centers to get their fair share of COVID-19 testing supplies and vaccines. Once they did, they became an essential contributor to fighting the pandemic. At least one urgent care operator found out the hard way just how easy it is to be thrown back into those dark days—and they’ve only got themselves to blame. The operator, which will remain nameless, found its test kits dwindling and …
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We found out shortly after its discovery that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is more transmissible but (for most patients) less severe than others. As research continues, however, even more disparities are becoming known—and a couple of the latest could affect how you approach to both testing and office hygiene. An article just published online by Reuters quotes multiple studies in the U.S. and abroad revealing the optimal method of testing for Omicron and how …
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Rural areas of the United States have generally been underserved when it comes to healthcare for a long time. Many patients have to travel for hours to get reasonable access to much-needed care. That inconvenience has been exacerbated—badly—by the latest surge of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, according to an article newly published by The Wall Street Journal. The story notes situations in which patients are turned away or told to “come back in a couple …
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We don’t need to tell you how badly patient volumes suffered for a good stretch of the pandemic. Patients stayed away not just from urgent care centers, but all ambulatory care settings. The advent of vaccines and wider availability of testing supplies started to right the ship, but concerns have remained that “normal” visits—those for complaints unrelated to COVID-19—might take a while to return to pre-pandemic levels. An article just published by the Journal of …
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One of the few serious threats to otherwise healthy children with COVID-19 is the risk for potentially deadly multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C). While the numbers pale in comparison to the overall death toll from SARS-CoV-2, thousands of children have been hospitalized due to MIS-C, with scores dying in the United States alone. The hope that vaccination might offer some degree of protection is now coming to fruition, at least in adolescents. According to a Research …
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