Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Utah Expands AI Prescription Pilots Despite Concerns

Utah is expanding its testing of AI as a tool for prescribing medications with the possibility that some test programs could eventually allow prescriptions to be ordered by AI autonomously without direct clinician involvement. Last week, the state’s Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy approved several new pilots, including a program that could allow prescriptions for dermatology drugs to be written based on a dermatology app that assesses acne through patient-provided photos. Initially, physicians will review …

Urgent Care Acuity Grows Complemented By Rise in Utilization

In a new trend report that examines healthcare spending in the United States based on a large claims database, Trilliant Health notes that from 2018 to 2025, there was a measurable shift toward higher-acuity procedure codes across all of healthcare. In urgent care specifically, use of higher-acuity codes such as CPT 99204 increased from 22.4% in 2020 to 42.3% in 2025, while at the same time, lower-acuity codes like CPT 99202 declined from 17.8% to …

Use of Real-Time Monitors May Offer Advantages For Glycemic Control

A study published in JAMA Network Open suggests that sustained use of real-time continuous glucose monitoring (rtCGM) may improve long-term glycemic control and reduce markers of kidney damage in high-risk adults with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes. Researchers analyzed 25,648 patients in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California system, including 2,771 who initiated rtCGM and 22,877 controls who did not use CGM. Participants had a mean baseline hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) of 9.5%. After 1 year, rtCGM …

New Efforts Aim To Support Testing, Treatment For Syphilis

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced a $4 million initiative to expand access to rapid, point-of-care syphilis testing, including in emergency departments and other healthcare settings where testing is typically not part of routine care. Congenital syphilis cases have increased for 12 consecutive years, with nearly 4,000 cases reported in 2024, representing a nearly 700% increase over the past decade, according to HHS. In 2023, congenital syphilis contributed to 279 stillbirths …

Injuries Increase As More E-Bikes Hit The Streets

There is strong evidence that e-bike injuries have increased in the United States, particularly injuries resulting in emergency department visits. A JAMA Network Open analysis found that e-bike injuries increased by more than 99% annually from 2017 to 2022, while conventional bicycle injuries did not increase significantly. Additionally, a more recent post from the Colorado Sun notes that clinicians at Children’s Hospital Colorado are seeing increases in serious trauma—particularly traumatic brain and facial injuries—associated with …

New York Declares Emergency To Address Rising Measles Cases

Because of rising measles cases, New York’s governor this week declared a State Disaster Emergency, which will remain in effect through November 4, 2026, according to a press release. This is a public-health response measure designed to expand vaccination, testing, surveillance, and outbreak-control capacity. The action specifically extends the pool of eligible individuals who can administer measles-mumps-rubella vaccines and allows nurses to order testing rather than requiring the order to come from a physician or …

Medical Leaders: AI Decisions Are Not Superior To Clinician Experience

Recently, the American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American College of Physicians, American College of Surgeons, and American Medical Association issued a joint statement expressing concern about perceptions that AI is “inherently better informed than physicians or that physicians cannot be trusted to make clinical decisions without first consulting this technology.” The groups say their organizations are not rejecting AI in medicine per se. Instead, they …

Immune Amnesia From Measles Can Last For 5 Years

For a patient with a measles infection, the health effects can last well beyond the acute illness. The measles virus destroys memory B and T cells that help the immune system recognize previously encountered pathogens, producing “immune amnesia,” according to an analysis in CIDRAP. As a result, patients can lose protection acquired through prior infections or vaccination and become susceptible again to bacterial and viral illnesses. Studies suggest measles survivors may lose 11%–73% of their …

Watch For Unique ‘Tick Bomb’ Bite Pattern

Clinicians might keep an eye out for an unusual dermatologic presentation that is known as a “tick bomb.” This unique tick bite pattern occurs when a person encounters a cluster of newly hatched larval ticks, potentially resulting in hundreds or thousands of tiny insects attaching to the skin at once and presenting as a collection of small red bites concentrated in an area on the skin, according to an analysis in MedPage Today that includes …

Fasting Before Lab Testing Should Be More Nuanced: Study

Fasting longer than 12 hours before a lab test generally does not provide an advantage over fasting for 8–12 hours, according to new research. A large study of routine outpatient laboratory testing suggests that most tests are minimally affected by the length of time that the patient spends fasting beforehand, potentially changing perspectives on uniform fasting requirements. As published in JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers analyzed 9.8 million test results from 101,148 adults using laboratory data …

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