Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

How One Urgent Care Center Dealt with a COVID-19 Scare—and Was Commended by the Health Department

An abundance of caution and a strong effort to keep the community informed drew praise for Open Door Urgent Care from the Delaware County (Indiana) Health Department recently. When a patient presented with symptoms that could have indicated COVID-19 infection, management made the decision to close up shop while providers ran through the screening protocol recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To head off the rumor mill—and any potential for resultant panic—Open …

Myths and Misinformation Are Keeping Patients from Getting Flu Shots. Educate Them!

Millions of confirmed cases and thousands of deaths aren’t enough to convince a lot of Americans that many of their beliefs about influenza and vaccination are just plain wrong. So, more than half fail to get a flu shot and leave themselves and loved ones at increased risk. Clearly, the healthcare community in general has to do a better job of countermanding erroneous conceptions. New data released by the American Academy of Family Physicians may …

Update: Influenza Is Hitting Children Especially Hard this Season

The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that 92 children have died from influenza so far this season—the highest number of deaths for this point in the season in a decade. Ominously, the CDC also points out that a second wave of flu outbreaks has been gaining momentum over the past few weeks. Overall, flu has killed an estimated 14,000 people this season, out of roughly 26 million confirmed cases. …

Violence Against Healthcare Providers Is Getting Attention—Finally

Most people who have worked in urgent care for any length of time could share stories of patients who become unruly, belligerent, or downright violent. Sometimes it’s out of frustration over a situation, a reaction to pain, or under the influence of substances. A report on NBC New York recently focused the public’s attention on this problem as it pertains to emergency rooms. It quoted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealing that 47% …

Fears Over COVID-19 Are Driving More Patients to Get Flu Shots

As we’ve pointed out—and as has been emphasized in mainstream media reports in recent weeks—far more Americans are at risk for contracting influenza than the coronavirus. The same holds true for associated deaths, as well. At least 15 million people have been diagnosed with flu so far this season. Mortality projections from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention range from 14,000 to 36,000. Compare that with the fact that as of February 17 there …

Concentra Continues Gobbling Up Local and Regional Urgent Care Networks

Already one of the largest U.S. companies to offer both urgent care and occupational medicine services, Concentra is continuing a slow but consistent practice of buying small local and regional urgent care and occ med networks. The latest acquisition is southern Colorado’s EmergiCare, which operates four urgent care locations in Colorado Springs and Pueblo. Concentra already operates 21 clinics in the region. Over the past 2 years, Concentra has acquired 12 other occupational medicine providers, …

Parents Are Moving Away from Pediatricians—Toward Urgent Care—When the Kids Are Sick

While acknowledging that traditional primary care settings, including pediatric practices, remain “the foundation of pediatric care,” a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics reveals that a growing number of parents in the U.S. are choosing urgent care and other acute care settings instead of their pediatrician’s office when their children are sick. After looking at more than 71 million pediatric primary care visits by commercially insured children between 2008 and 2016, the researchers reported that …

Massachusetts Hospitals Push for More State Control of Urgent Care

We told you recently that legislators in Massachusetts have again picked up efforts to impose new regulations and licensing standards on urgent care operators there—all of which would result in operators paying more to the state, of course. The crux of the argument is whether urgent care centers operate more like hospitals (in which case they would have to be licensed as such) or like physician offices. Now the president and CEO of the Massachusetts …

Giving Pharmacists Prescribing Authority Could Be Risky—for Patients and for Urgent Care

As efforts to grant pharmacists authority to prescribe certain medications pick up in some states, concern is growing among urgent care insiders that such a change in the clinical landscape could actually be detrimental to patients’ health, and certainly degrade the value that urgent care and other provider-based settings have to offer. The potential risk to patients was illustrated in a recent New York Times article that detailed how overwhelmed pharmacists already are, working long …

Data: Antibiotic Stewardship Efforts Don’t Seem to Apply to Some Medicaid Patients

Urgent care has taken a leadership position among healthcare settings when it comes to fighting antibiotic resistance. The Urgent Care Association initiated an Antibiotic Stewardship Commendation Program, wherein urgent care operators are recognized for fulfilling certain criteria demonstrating responsible antibiotic prescribing. And some large urgent care companies have instituted strict internal controls to ensure antibiotics are prescribed according to accepted guidelines. All those efforts, geared toward stemming antibiotic resistance, may be being undermined by inappropriate …

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