Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

As Legal Marijuana Becomes More Common, so Do Associated Acute Care Visits by Older Adults

Older patients are presenting to emergency rooms with complaints related to marijuana use in greater numbers than ever before, according to research just published by the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Based on a trend analysis of California Department of Healthcare Access and Information records, the researchers reported that the rate of cannabis-related visits by patients 65 years of age and older increased from 20.7 per 100,000 visits to 395 visits/100,000 between 2005 and …

True Blue: The Color of Your Scrubs May Be Influencing Patient Expectations

Personal tastes and the hot colors of the moment are the last things you should be relying on when choosing the color of scrubs, if new data published by JAMA Surgery are any indication. Researchers at the University of North Carolina Medical Center in Chapel Hill showed patients photos of male and female clinicians wearing black, light blue, green, and navy blue scrubs to find out if a particular color was associated with surgeons in …

With Billing Decisions in the Provider’s Court, e-Visits Go Up and Messages from Patients Go Down

A study just released by the Journal of the American Medical Association found that when providers are empowered with the decision of whether or not to bill for an e-visit, the number of virtual visits rises while the number of messages exchanged with patients falls. That’s not as counterintuitive as it sounds. The data show the volume of e-visits rose because overall the providers started billing for “visits” that they once gave away for free, …

Conducting Urgent Care Research Is as Expensive as It Is Essential—but Help Is on the Way

JUCM has succeeded in its commitment to publish at least one piece of original research in each issue over the past couple of years—and we plan to continue—but, in general, studies specific to urgent care continue to be scarce. One challenge is that conducting research can be an expensive proposition. Operators running on thin margins or venture capitalist-type ownership may balk at committing to studies that could benefit the field but not have a financial …

Retailers Keep Casting a Wider Net to Draw Primary Care and Urgent Care Business

Chain drugstores continue to invest heavily in their quest to capture more primary care and urgent care patients. As JUCM News readers know, only a month or so ago CVS announced it was buying Signify, a home healthcare provider, for roughly $8 million. That was just the appetizer course, though, as it’s been revealed the company is investing $100 million in Carbon Health, a primary care and urgent care company. At the same time, Becker’s …

Budgets Are Tight, but So Are Staffing Levels. Disregard Employee Satisfaction at Your Own Risk

We don’t have to tell you that in 2023 there is no room for fat in the budgets of urgent care operations (or any other healthcare business). One area in which businesses in all industries look to ensure efficiency is how much they spend on the staff. When times are tight, tough decisions have to be made. Sometimes that means layoffs, and sometimes it means cutting back on spending. Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health learned …

Update: Don’t Underestimate the Growing Risk of Severe Strep A

Just a few weeks after we told you hospitals across the country were seeing far more cases of severe Streptococcus A infection than in a typical year, mainstream media outlets are again sounding the alarm that the tripledemic should not be the only concern for healthcare providers and families. According to a report from WWMT in Grand Rapids, MI, Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, for one, has seen four cases of severe infection linked to group …

MIS-C May Be More of a Threat than We Originally Thought—Especially for Children of Color

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it appeared that children were at much lower risk than adults for poor outcomes, or even for becoming infected at all. As time went on it became clear that a COVID-related complication, multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), was a threat to children’s lives—but, again, it appeared to be a rare occurrence and so did not garner the attention that it now appears it should have. A study …

Ransomware Attacks Doubled in Just 5 Years. Are Your Preventive Measures Keeping Pace?

If it seems like you’ve been reading more than ever about ransomware attacks in JUCM News and elsewhere, there’s a good reason: A new study released by JAMA Health Forum reveals that the annual number of healthcare ransomware attacks doubled over a 5-year period, from 43 attacks in 2016 to 91 in 2021. In total, 342 attacks exposed the personal health information of nearly 42 million patients. While hospitals were the most likely targets, statistically, …

Renewed Interest in Ketamine Could Drive Patients Your Way—Be Prepared

A new wave of specialty clinics is stoking renewed interest from mainstream media and patients in the purported benefits, as well as the risks, of ketamine to treat select mental health issues. Medpage Today published an article online detailing how some providers—one of whom holds a medical license in 45 states—have established booming online “practices” devoted exclusively to facilitating access to ketamine. While ketamine has been used successfully in treating depression and anxiety, the Food …

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