With Authorization of a Second COVID-19 Booster for Some, ‘Fully Vaccinated’ May Have a New Definition

With Authorization of a Second COVID-19 Booster for Some, ‘Fully Vaccinated’ May Have a New Definition

With COVID-19 ebbing and flowing throughout the world, including the United States, healthcare organizations continue striving to stay ahead of the next variant and potential for another surge. To that end, the Food and Drug Administration has amended its emergency use authorization to authorize a second booster dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for individuals age 50 and older at least 4 months after receiving their first booster dose, as well as …

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Addicts Are in Desperate Need of Treatment. Can You Provide It?

Addicts Are in Desperate Need of Treatment. Can You Provide It?

It became apparent early in the COVID-19 pandemic that people with substance use disorders were going to have an especially tough go of it. Anxiety and social isolation spiked along with infection rates, both simultaneously with reduced access to treatment resources. It was predictable, then, that data showed the already-existing opioid epidemic escalating. So, it’s alarming to learn that even in 2019 only 28% of U.S. adults and adolescents who could have benefited from treatment …

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The ‘Great Resignation’ Isn’t Helping an Already-Bleak Staffing Situation—but There Might Be a Solution

The ‘Great Resignation’ Isn’t Helping an Already-Bleak Staffing Situation—but There Might Be a Solution

JUCM and other medical industry publications have been aware of growing concerns over provider shortages for several years now. While the pandemic has done nothing to improve the prospect of maintaining a steady flow of new clinicians in the coming years, it has increased the risk of urgent care centers losing nonclinical staff leaving their current positions. Presumably some have left healthcare-related jobs, possibly wearied by the stress of being on the frontlines of a …

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Update: Clarity on ‘Test to Treat’ for COVID-19 Continues to Be a Moving Target

Update: Clarity on ‘Test to Treat’ for COVID-19 Continues to Be a Moving Target

When details of the “test to treat” initiative first emerged, it appeared that urgent care would once again be left out in the cold, unable to test patients for COVID-19 and then provide an immediate prescription and treatment on site; as originally detailed, it appeared that right was going to be conferred mainly to pharmacies. Then, as JUCM News readers know, the Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response …

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Update: Emerging Intel May Explain Why New Cases of COVID-19 Are Creeping Up (Again)

Update: Emerging Intel May Explain Why New Cases of COVID-19 Are Creeping Up (Again)

There was a certain amount of concern in some circles that abandoning mask mandates and taking other steps toward normalcy in response to dwindling COVID-19 infection rates could backfire. While it would be premature to assume the U.S. is headed for lockdowns like China is experiencing at present, new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do underscore the need for continued vigilance here. For example, as time goes on, it becomes more …

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ACIP Adult Vaccine Update Is a Reminder: COVID-19 Doesn’t Eclipse the Need for ‘Other’ Vaccines

ACIP Adult Vaccine Update Is a Reminder: COVID-19 Doesn’t Eclipse the Need for ‘Other’ Vaccines

With seemingly all eyes focused on COVID-19 for the past 2 years, patients (and even urgent care providers) could be forgiven for “forgetting” that there are countless other infectious diseases existing in the world. They’re out there, though—and release of the 2022 immunization schedule update from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should be a reminder for urgent care providers to ask patients if they’re up to …

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Don’t Get Caught by Surprise—Multiple Factors Point Toward Another U.S. COVID-19 Surge

Don’t Get Caught by Surprise—Multiple Factors Point Toward Another U.S. COVID-19 Surge

Signs are emerging that our collective celebratory spirit over the decline in COVID-19 cases and related hospitalizations and deaths could be short-lived. Parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe—the same regions to serve as a precursor to the United States’ own descent into pandemic pandemonium 2 years ago—are all seeing an increase in cases at present. Parts of China and South Korea have already returned to lockdown status, in fact. Socially, presumed driving forces include abandonment …

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Be Alert for Nonphysical Symptoms Starting to Emerge in the Wake of COVID-19 Infection

Be Alert for Nonphysical Symptoms Starting to Emerge in the Wake of COVID-19 Infection

We’ve known for a while that patients who’ve been infected with COVID-19 can experience breathing difficulties and other complaints long after they’ve recovered from the illness itself (though how long those could last remains to be seen). What is just coming to light, however, are possible extended effects on a patient’s mental state and cognitive functioning. And it goes way beyond “COVID fog.” According to an article published by Lancet Public Health, patients who experienced …

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Is ICV Partners Acquisition Activity a Sign of Things to Come in the 2022 Urgent Care Marketplace?

Is ICV Partners Acquisition Activity a Sign of Things to Come in the 2022 Urgent Care Marketplace?

ICV Partners, a Miami-based investment firm with a history of targeting lower middle market companies in healthcare and other “service” industries, has acquired Urgent Care Group and announced plans to combine it with its portfolio company, Total Access Urgent Care. Urgent Care Group actually serves three brands covering 24 locations in the Wilmington, NC and Atlanta areas and throughout South Carolina. All together, they employ more than 400 urgent care professionals and see more than …

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Follow-Up: The Jump in Sexually Transmitted Disease Has Already Begun—and Urgent Care Is on the Front Line

Follow-Up: The Jump in Sexually Transmitted Disease Has Already Begun—and Urgent Care Is on the Front Line

Just last week, we shared the news that freedom from masking and other measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 infection is expected to usher in an increase in the rate of sexually transmitted infection. Now Baptist Health South Florida reports that spring breakers visiting the area are already driving up visits associated with concerns for STIs. In a post on its website, BHSF encourages patients to seek assessment and treatment as soon as they’re …

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