Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Labels May Skew Statin Drug’s True Side Effects

Many of the adverse events listed on the labels for statin drugs may not be supported by good evidence of a causal relationship, according to an analysis in The Lancet. Adverse events examined from 19 double-blind trials do not seem to show statin therapy causes cognitive impairment, depression, sleep disturbance, and peripheral neuropathy. Four events did have significance in the study. The authors say their analysis “has confirmed that statin therapy increases hepatic transaminase and …

Maternal Syphilis Rates Again, Reflecting Ongoing Public Health Issue

According to new data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), maternal syphilis rates in the United States are still on the increase, part of a decade-long trend of rising cases. From 2022 through 2024, maternal syphilis rates increased 28% overall (from 280.4 cases per 100,000 births to 357.9 cases). The rate climbed 16% between 2022 and 2023 and an additional 10% from 2023 to 2024. Looking at the long-term trend, previous data showed …

UCCOP, CUCM Speak Out Against ‘Urgent Care Kits’

In a new statement, the Urgent Care College of Physicians (UCCOP) and the College of Urgent Care Medicine (CUCM) make a strong stand against the development, distribution and promotion of what are being marketed online as “urgent care kits.” The kits typically include antibiotics, steroids, or other prescription medications packaged for unsupervised use by consumers at home. They are often advertised as a way for families to be prepared for “life’s unexpected moments,” which suggests …

Antibiotics Drive ED Visits With Adverse Drug Events Among Kids

Antibiotics are the most commonly implicated drugs in emergency department (ED) visits for adverse drug events (ADEs) among children, as published in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society. Researchers found antibiotics were implicated in more than one-third of pediatric ADE visits in the United States during 2019-2023, with an estimated average of 47,628 ED visits annually. In some age groups, antibiotics were identified in more than half of the ADE visits. Among the …

Proposed X-Ray Rules Heighten Radiation Protection Standards

Newly proposed legislation in Arizona aims to regulate radiation safety beyond the current federal and state standards, according to AZ Mirror. Proponents say the package represents a first-in-the-nation push focused on “radiation protection systems” for interventional x-ray. For example, it requires hospitals performing real-time x-ray procedures to install enhanced protection systems in at least 50% of their procedure rooms by July 2027, and the system must include shielding that offers protection equivalent to or better …

UTI Triage Guides Address Virtual Presentations

Clinician teams have developed 2 new algorithms to guide the triage and management of adults with symptoms suggestive of urinary tract infection (UTI) across care settings, including patients who present by phone, portals, virtual visits, and in-person visits. Unlike prior recommendations that were built on telephone-based triage and empiric treatment, this new guidance published in JAMA Network Open reflects the new channels patients use to seek care. They provide structured decision support for determining visit …

New ‘Visual Combo’ Code Brings Reimbursement Risks

Effective January 1, 2026, the Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services mandated a critical coding change for urgent care: Visually read COVID-19/flu combination tests must now be billed under the single code CPT 87812. This replaces the previous standard of unbundling the tests into 2 separate codes (CPT 87811 and CPT 87804) and was intended to be revenue-neutral. However, a national analysis of January 2026 data by Urgent Care Consultants exclusively for JUCM reveals a …

Urgent Care Use Rises While ED Use Declines: Employer Claims Analysis

New analysis from the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) found that urgent care utilization is increasing, reducing demand that might otherwise fall to emergency departments (EDs). From 2018 to 2022, urgent care utilization among people with employer-sponsored insurance increased 34.5% over the 5-year period from 90 visits per 1,000 people in 2018 to 156 visits per 1,000 in 2022. At the same time, ED visit rates declined by 2.5% from 176 visits per 1,000 people …

APPs Manage Half of Medicare Urgent Care Visits as Volume Doubles

While a study in JAMA Network Open last week found urgent care visits among traditional Medicare patients doubled between 2012 and 2019, at the same time, researchers also found the percentage of Medicare patients managed by advanced practice providers (APPs) increased from 21.0% in 2012 to 50.8% in 2019. According to the authors, visits seen by APPs showed a 497% relative increase in the study period, from 9.5 visits per 1,000 (95% confidence interval [CI], …

Histoplasmosis Outbreak: Lung Infection Symptoms Similar to Common Pneumonias

At least 35 people have been sickened in a histoplasmosis outbreak in Tennessee in the past 3 months with 1 potentially related death, according to state health officials and a local news report. The Tennessee Department of Health has not found a clear source of exposure but warns the Histoplasma fungus is commonly found in soil throughout the state, making it difficult to prevent exposure. People with weakened immune systems are at a higher risk …

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