Two Years into the Pandemic—and After Months of Progress—Patients Are Still Leery of Visits

Two Years into the Pandemic—and After Months of Progress—Patients Are Still Leery of Visits

Urgent care operators know all too well that visits dropped precipitously at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as patients stayed home rather than risk exposure in the waiting room or from clinicians. By June of 2020, an article in Managed Healthcare Executive reminds us, around 41% of adults begged off visiting a healthcare provider. Whether valid or not, patient concern before the advent of vaccination and testing for COVID-19 was understandable. The greater concern, …

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Still Trying to Convince Parents It Make Sense to Vaccinate Their Kids? These New Data May Help

Still Trying to Convince Parents It Make Sense to Vaccinate Their Kids? These New Data May Help

As JUCM News has reported, each week brings a new wave of school systems doing away with mask mandates in concert with still-falling caseloads of COVID-19. While that’s generally regarded as good news, some parents and school officials are collectively holding their breath to see if we see a new spike in positive tests or absenteeism. Ongoing efforts to ensure as many eligible children as possible get vaccinated have the potential to help in this …

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The Ukraine Crisis Raises Both Vulnerability and a Service Opportunity for Urgent Care

The Ukraine Crisis Raises Both Vulnerability and a Service Opportunity for Urgent Care

Barely a week into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, supply chain experts are warning that already-shaky delivery of essential goods from around the world—including just about everything you need in your supply room—is likely to get worse as the crisis wears on. An article just published by MedPageToday notes that the issue isn’t necessarily items sourced from Ukraine or being embargoed from Russia, but closed airspace corridors, disrupted shipping channels, and the ripple effects that emanate …

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What Happens When Patients Don’t Need the ED but Can’t Get to Urgent Care? Here’s One Answer

What Happens When Patients Don’t Need the ED but Can’t Get to Urgent Care? Here’s One Answer

An elderly lady who longer drives and has a scorching sore throat might be inclined to call an ambulance to take her to the emergency room. Clearly, it’s not an emergency but she’s got to see someone. In most places across the U.S. the end result will be a trip to the ED, which will have her waiting—for hours, maybe—and result in higher-than-necessary charges to Medicare. Under a new initiative in Seattle, however, it would …

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‘Test to Treat’ COVID-19 Plans May Bear Some Clarification When It Comes to Urgent Care

‘Test to Treat’ COVID-19 Plans May Bear Some Clarification When It Comes to Urgent Care

If you watched President Biden’s State of the Union speech, you probably took note of changes planned for the “test to treat” initiative, in which patients can visit specified clinics to receive a COVID-19 test and then immediate treatment if warranted. Though the president called out pharmacy-based clinics as a specific example of such locations, the Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) has since clarified that urgent …

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Is Urgent Care Immune to—or at Risk in—the Ongoing Evolution of the American Workplace?

Is Urgent Care Immune to—or at Risk in—the Ongoing Evolution of the American Workplace?

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the American workplace has been undergone a rapid evolution. At first it was incumbent upon employers to find a way to maximize productivity when many employees were confined to their homes. Needless to say, that was a more viable option for some than others. Urgent care has been in an unusual position in that some team members can work virtually (administrators, telemedicine providers) while others really have to …

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Take Note: New Data Reveal Who Is Most Likely to Write Too Many Antibiotic Scripts

Take Note: New Data Reveal Who Is Most Likely to Write Too Many Antibiotic Scripts

There has been a concentrated effort over the past few years to raise awareness of overprescribing of antibiotics. As you know, it’s not just a matter of spending unnecessarily on drugs that aren’t called for, but also a risk to public health due to growing antibiotic resistance. And yet, every year new data seem to emerge indicating that this problem is just not going away. Now a study published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report …

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A Common Diagnosis Too Often Leads to Overprescribing of Common Drugs

A Common Diagnosis Too Often Leads to Overprescribing of Common Drugs

Parents presenting with children whose symptoms are suspicious for acute otitis media (AOM) are aplenty in urgent care, as well as in other settings. Unfortunately, too many of those parents expect—or even demand—a prescription for an antibiotic before leaving. And, in fact, often they’ll get just that whether it’s truly warranted or not. An article just published in JAMA Pediatrics suggests it’s time to remind ourselves, collectively, that such a kneejerk reaction may not be …

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With Masks Coming Off, Urgent Care Operators Are Inching Back to ‘Normal’ Practices

With Masks Coming Off, Urgent Care Operators Are Inching Back to ‘Normal’ Practices

With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently adapting its stance on wearing masks in public to reduce risk for spreading COVID-19, urgent care operators are already using the new guidance to review their own practices and procedures. They’re also being encouraged to do so by fluctuations in patient volume. Tomah Health in Wisconsin, for example, is reopening its urgent care facility after closing it in January due to overwhelming COVID-19 cases in its …

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A Million Tests Later: Perspectives on COVID-19 Testing in Pediatric Urgent Care

A Million Tests Later: Perspectives on COVID-19 Testing in Pediatric Urgent Care

Urgent message: The depth of COVID-19 testing data specific to the pediatric urgent care market provides insights into the capability of the broader urgent care industry to play a significant role in public health in the United States. David J. Mathison, MD, MBA It’s easy to forget how 24 months ago the urgent care industry was amidst one of the worst influenza seasons in recent memory. Then in February 2020, the first cases of COVID-19 …

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