Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Surprisingly, Portal Messaging Doesn’t Reduce In-Person Visits

A large-scale analysis of electronic health record data from more than 2,000 hospitals and 47,000 clinics found that secure patient portal messaging has become a component of outpatient care rather than a replacement for office visits, as published in JAMA. Investigators analyzed communication trends among active patients from 2020–2025 using nearly 8 billion office visits, portal messages, telephone encounters, and telehealth visits. Portal messages coming in from patients rose from 0.99 to 2.50 messages per …

Framework For Musculoskeletal Injuries Helps Avoid Missed Diagnosis

A structured approach to evaluating acute musculoskeletal injuries may help reduce missed diagnoses and unnecessary imaging, according to a review article published in Cureus. Musculoskeletal complaints account for an estimated 20%–25% of emergency department visits, and the authors explain that combining injury mechanism, functional assessment, focused physical examination, and targeted imaging can help identify significant injuries. Validated clinical decision tools can safely reduce unnecessary radiographs while still achieving accurate diagnosis, they say. For example, the …

Heart Failure Definition Gets A Makeover

A new international expert consensus document from leading cardiology groups offers an update on the definition of heart failure, taking into consideration advances in diagnosis and clinical understanding of the disease, as published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. While the statement isn’t a clinical practice guideline—and does not include treatment recommendations—it aims to clarify the definition and adopt it universally. For urgent care clinicians, the most relevant point is that heart …

States Adopt Varied AI Scribe Laws

Rhode Island recently became the first state with a law specifically aimed at ambient AI scribes, requiring disclosure to patients when scribes are used and provision of an opt-out process. State law also says the provider must review any AI-generated documentation for accuracy. Only a small number of states have enacted laws that specifically require healthcare providers to disclose the use of ambient AI tools during patient encounters. A few others rely on broader AI …

Cyclosporiasis Intestinal Illness Spreads Across Northeast

Several state health departments are actively investigating a growing outbreak of cyclosporiasis. In late June, Michigan reported 177 cases of cyclosporiasis, then by July 4, the case count more than tripled to 572 cases, then grew again on July 9 to 1,251, according to local news reports. The figure represents more than 10 times the usual case counts for the state at this time of year. Ohio, Illinois, and New York are beginning to see …

Experity Acquisition of Exdion Healthcare Brings AI Automation to RCM

On July 1, Experity announced that it has acquired Exdion Healthcare, an AI-driven software company specializing in coding, billing, compliance, and revenue cycle management for healthcare organizations. According to Experity, the acquisition will allow for integration of AI capabilities across clinical, operational, and financial workflows to automate more of the revenue cycle and reduce administrative work for the urgent care practices that rely on Experity’s electronic medical records, practice management, patient engagement, revenue cycle, teleradiology, …

Carbon Health Settlement Serves as Warning Shot For MSOs

A freshly inked settlement involving Carbon Health Technologies—a primary care and telehealth provider—is getting attention because it represents a new era in enforcement of stricter corporate-practice-of-medicine rules in California enacted last year. At issue was Carbon Health’s operational approach, which the state attorney general alleged violated the law because the company acted as an unlicensed corporate entity effectively owning and controlling medical practices. In other words, the state believed the corporation itself directed practical medical …

There’s Room to Improve Antibiotic Prescribing for Acute Sinusitis

Researchers found that antibiotic prescribing frequently exceeded guideline recommendations in a study of 1,000 ambulatory visits for acute sinusitis in 2024 across several locations of the Mayo Clinic health system, as published in Antimicrobial Stewardship & Healthcare Epidemiology. Although only 67.6% of the encounters met criteria for antibiotic treatment, 89.2% of encounters resulted in an antibiotic prescription. Urgent care represented one-quarter of the study’s 1,000 encounters (254 visits) and 68.5% of those urgent care encounters …

Oral Drug Offers Options For Complicated UTI

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this month approved tebipenem pivoxil for adults with complicated urinary tract infections (cUTIs), including pyelonephritis, in patients who have limited or no alternative oral treatment options. Marketed as Utebzi, it is one of the more significant antibiotic approvals in recent years because it is the first oral carbapenem antibiotic available in the United States, according to manufacturer GSK. Until now, carbapenems (eg, ertapenem, meropenem, and imipenem) have generally required …

Small Rise in Tetanus Warrants Attention

Cases of tetanus in the United States rose from 17 in 2020 to 38 in 2025, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), prompting public health experts to suggest that Americans might check their vaccine status and consider boosters when appropriate. CDC reported that from 2009–2023 there were 402 reported tetanus cases nationwide—an average of about 27 cases per year with 37 total deaths. However, other signs indicate …

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