Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Large Majority of Families Use Urgent Care at Least Once a Year

A recent survey by WellNow Urgent Care across 5 states shows 90% of all adults are likely to consider going to an urgent care for minor medical emergencies or illnesses—highlighting urgent care’s convenience, after-hours care, and affordability. The survey also shows nearly two-thirds of mothers say cost is the primary factor influencing whether they seek care. Three-quarters of surveyed moms report using vacation days from work to attend medical appointments, and 57% say they have …

Cardiovascular Risks Predict Heart Attack And Stroke Rather Well

A large study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that 99% of those who experience heart attacks and strokes have at least 1 of the 4 biggest risk factors. By tracking health records for more than a decade in more than 9.3 million adults in South Korea and nearly 7,000 adults in the United States, researchers found that virtually all subjects had at least 1 major cardiovascular risk factor beforehand, and …

Sexually Transmitted Infections Show Another Year of Declines

New provisional data shows 2024 was the third consecutive year of declines in the combined total number of cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The overall trend shows a 9% decline from the previous year’s case numbers. Even with that positive news, there were still more than 2.2 million reported sexually transmitted infections in 2024, and overall cases are 13% higher than a decade ago. Most …

Concerns Continue For West Nile Virus in Colorado

As of September 30, 2025, there have been a total of 1,324 human cases of West Nile virus reported in 42 states this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This compares with 1,791 cases for all of 2024, but it’s far below the 9,862 cases reported in 2003—the highest incidence across the past 25 years. Colorado has been particularly hard hit with 235 cases and 12 deaths this year, according …

Severe Flu Season Also Associated With Cases of Rare Pediatric Encephalopathy

The last influenza season (2024–2025) was categorized as high-severity with more cases and hospitalizations than the previous 14 years. New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is also showing 109 rare cases of pediatric influenza-associated encephalopathy (IAE) occurred last year as well. Overall, 74% of IAE patients were admitted to an intensive care unit, and 19% died. Only 16% of vaccine-eligible IAE patients had received the 2024–2025 flu vaccine. Of the …

Study Observes Changes in EDs After PE Acquisition

Whether private equity (PE) is friend or foe in the healthcare market is still a subject of intense debate. A new study of emergency department (ED) visits published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine found that patient mortality and outside transfers increased in PE-owned hospitals once the hospital was acquired. These EDs experienced 7 additional deaths per 10,000 visits after acquisition relative to control (13.4% increase from a raw baseline of 52.4 deaths per 10,000; …

Harbor Health Buys 32 VillageMD Clinics From Walgreens Portfolio

Harbor Health, a startup primary-care and specialty group that also offers individual and employer health plans, announced it is acquiring 32 clinics from VillageMD, which is now in the middle of a breakup as part of the $10 billion acquisition of Walgreens by Sycamore Partners. Some of the acquired VillageMD locations include those within Walgreens stores. Harbor Health grew from 3 clinic locations in 2022 to 11 clinics most recently, including 3 that offer extended …

New Gastroparesis Guidelines Focus on First-Line Treatments

A new clinical practice guideline from the American Gastroenterological Association helps support physicians who are treating patients with gastroparesis. The condition is difficult to diagnose and treat, so the new guidelines outline the current state of the evidence for clinical options, as published in Gastroenterology. Part of the motivation for publishing the insight comes from possible new risks for gastroparesis related to glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists that are increasingly being used by patients for …

Kids’ Hypertension Can Lead to Adult Cardiovascular Disease and Death

Children with elevated blood pressure in childhood can experience a greater risk of early death from cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adulthood, a new long-term study in JAMA finds. At baseline, 21% of the 37,081 children studied were classified as having hypertension, while about 19% were classified as having elevated blood pressure. Participants (born from 1959 to 1966) were followed to a median age of 54 years. At follow-up, a 1-SD higher systolic blood pressure measure …

No Causal Link to Autism or ADHD Found In Prenatal Opioid Exposure

A large Swedish study that examined prenatal exposure to prescribed opioid pain medications and the child’s risk of later developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) found no causal link between prescribed opioid use during pregnancy and risk of the conditions. As published in PLOS Medicine, researchers analyzed data from more than 1.2 million children for ASD (2007–2018) and more than 900,000 children for ADHD (2007–2015). By the time the subjects were 10 …

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