Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Research Report: Consumer-Centric Healthcare Favors Urgent Care

A trend toward high-deductible health plans and new technologies that ease access are pushing consumers to demand more from healthcare encounters, according to a new research report from CBInsights. This is evidenced by the growing popularity of “wearable” health-tracking devices and telemedicine services, but also in the number of patients who continue to flock to urgent care centers, according to the report. That, in turn, makes the industry attractive to private-equity investors, who “see opportunities …

Anthem ED Policy is Starting to Rankle Patients

When Anthem announced some months ago it would not cover bills for “unnecessary” (in their retrospective view) trips to the emergency room in some states, we noted objections from physician groups. Now that the policy is in place and claims for 2018 have started to be filed, we’re seeing media reports on angry patients who are getting stuck with bills they presumed would be covered. Consumer Reports, for one, recounts the case of a patient …

Flu Season is Your Time to Shine—for Patients’ Benefit and Your Own

This year’s severe flu season is taking a deadly toll in nearly every state in the nation, and it’s not done yet. Urgent care in general is playing a key role in helping to minimize the consequences by continuing to administer vaccines for those who’ve remained healthy so far, and to prescribe antivirals and provide supportive care for those who have the flu. But what does your community know about your expertise and ability to …

Imaging Quality in Ped Urgent Care Rises with Involvement of Registered Radiology Techs

Registered radiology technologists working in pediatric urgent care centers produced better-quality images than attending physicians in a newly published study at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. The report was published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology. The aim of the study was to assess radiograph quality at urgent care centers staffed with and without technologists, as well as the utilization of radiography in a pediatric urgent care setting. The researchers looked at …

New Data May Offer Hope for Effective Non-opioid Acute Pain Treatment

Patient advocates have been pushing back on legislative and clinical efforts to put the brakes on widespread prescribing of opioid pain medications, on the grounds that the medications are a necessity for some patients in extreme pain. The problem—so far—is that there don’t seem to be any viable alternatives that work as well. A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association indicates that could be changing, though. Chang, et al compared …

UCA White Paper Reveals Trends in Urgent Care

A newly published report from the Urgent Care Association reveals just how far the industry has come from its “doc in a box” days, to the point that it’s now a key element of the healthcare continuum. In fact, urgent care centers account for 18.2% of all primary care visits and 9.7% of outpatients visits overall in the U.S. The Essential Role of the Urgent Care Center in Population Health also offers new data indicating …

Anthem Faces Charges Its Already-Unpopular ED Policy is Harder on Low-Income Patients

Physicians and patients alike have been vocal in their disapproval of Anthem’s policy of denying claims for emergency room visits that are ultimately declared nonemergent—the main criticisms being that it forces patients to self-diagnosis to some extent and that it ultimately may discourage patients from getting emergency care when they really do need it. Now the Indianapolis Recorder newspaper charges the policy is going to have the greatest negative impact on low-income patients, based on …

NC Psychiatric Urgent Care Clinic Is Finding Its Footing

In September, we told you about an urgent care center in North Carolina that had committed to serving the immediate needs of patients with psychiatric and behavioral health concerns—but was struggling to attract enough patients. The staff was seeing fewer than 17 patients a week then; today, it’s closer to 50, halfway to their goal of serving 100 each week. Carolina Outreach just conducted an open house to celebrate its 6-month anniversary and to continue …

CDC’s 2018 Vaccine Schedule Reflects New Developments in Herpes Zoster, Mumps

The 2018 Recommended Immunization Schedule for Adults Aged 19 or Older from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) includes a couple of key changes especially relevant to urgent care providers who offer immunization services. As of now, among other updates, ACP recommends: Recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV; Shingrix) to prevent shingles in adults as follows: Two doses of RZV 2 to 6 months apart to adults …

Urgent Care Center Figures in Shooting Investigation—But How Much Can They Say?

An unknown man and woman delivered a second man with two gunshot wounds to an urgent care center in Kitsap County, WA last Friday—and then sped away, leaving law enforcement to wonder if they were simply good Samaritans, witnesses, or somehow involved in the shooting. The victim was treated in the urgent care center and then taken to a nearby hospital with non–life-threatening injuries. It remains to be seen how involved the urgent care center’s …

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