Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

New Data on Teenage Substance Abuse Are Out, and the Numbers May Surprise You

While access to marijuana and other illicit substances may have been hindered during the social distancing period of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rate at which teenagers continued to use alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs as of 2021 remained relatively high. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary & Trends Report, 2011–2021, a greater proportion of female than male high school students acknowledged smoking marijuana (18% to 14%, …

Leverage Local Media to Remind Patients That You’re There for them

Georgia Urgent Care in Milton, VT just restored their capability to offer x-rays and bone-density imaging. A new nurse practitioner is taking the next step in her career by joining the team at Sanford Health in Bemidji, MN. And Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital’s El Dorado Urgent Care center is now going to be seeing patients on the hospital campus. We know this because articles alerting the public to these events appeared in the St. …

Retail Health Chains Keep Planting New Seeds. How Many Will Bear Fruit?

As we reported recently, Walgreens keeps buying properties to enhance its efforts to capture business in the primary care sector. Now, as reported by Healthcare Dive, Walmart Health says it’s going to open 28 new locations next year, including two in Missouri and Arizona—fresh territory for them. If they follow through, that will bring the total number of WH locations in the country to 75 since launching in 2019. It appears their niche will be …

Provider Happiness Has Taken a Beating Since the Pandemic; Check in with Colleagues (and Yourself)

As JUCM News readers know, research has shown that healthcare provider burnout increased significantly over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. New research published by Medscape, which also took part in the project, took a slightly alternate approach to the issue by asking 9,100 providers in 29 specialties not only about burnout, but also to assess their degree of happiness. While urgent care was not one of those specialties, it’s noteworthy that the specialties most …

Providers and Coders Take Note: More Patients with Mental Health Issues Are Heading Your Way

It’s likely you’ve noticed seeing more patients with complaints related to their mental health and emotional wellbeing since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. What may be more surprising, if you hadn’t noticed, is that the trend began well before 2020. New research published by Health Affairs shows that between 2006 and 2018 the percentage of visits to primary care related to mental health concerns increased from 11% to 16%. The authors attributed the increase …

Walgreens Is Sinking More Money into the Primary Care Space

As JUCM News readers know, Walgreens is among the many retail drugstores and big box merchants trying desperately to break into the primary care medicine industry. It appears they’re among the most willing to invest heavily in that crusade, too. It was only a few months ago that we told you about the company’s dream of establishing a thousand clinics in its drugstores over the next 5 years. Now, as reported by Healthcare Finance News, …

Patients May Be Accessing Telehealth in Ways That Surprise You

Telehealth has been celebrated for broadening access to healthcare for individuals who otherwise would go without, but also derided as an “environment” rich in risk for overprescribing, as well as a threat to the patient–provider relationship. What’s not in dispute is that many patients like it—and the situations in which they access telehealth may be surprising. According to research by KeyCare and as reported by Healthcare IT Today, 68% of patients “who needed urgent care …

The COVID Emergency Declarations Are Ending. What Does That Mean for Urgent Care?

While the general public might think of the federal government’s action to try to contain the COVID-19 pandemic to be a single, monolithic Federal Health Emergency, the facts are much more nuanced, with an array of implications for urgent care (and every distinct healthcare setting). With the exception of certain states that are seeing increases, in general caseloads, hospitalizations, and deaths related to COVID are down in the United States and the government is starting …

Healthcare Burnout Isn’t Only for Providers. Have You Checked in with Patients Lately?

Urgent care providers and operators are probably too aware of how common burnout is among healthcare professionals, especially since the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s true, of course, and it is a serious, ongoing concern. However, an article just published by Time magazine points out that patients may also be experiencing their own variety of burnout associated with healthcare. One factor the piece notes—having to wait weeks to see a provider when the patient …

When the Elements Shut You Down, You Need a Plan for Your Patients—and Your Team

Much of the U.S. is getting hammered with winter storms as of this writing, forcing some urgent care operators to decide whether it’s worth it (and safe) to conduct business as usual, close early, or not even open up for the day. Prevea Health in Wisconsin, for one, got ahead of the game by announcing in local media and its own platforms that they’d be closing all locations, including urgent care centers, from Wednesday afternoon …