Practice Management
Despite the fact that pregnant women and infants are increased risk for severe, influenza-related illness, nearly half of women approaching childbirth fail to get a flu shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, in a recently published study, the CDC also found that simply offering to give a pregnant woman a flu shot increased the rate of coverage from 56% to around 70%. The report is careful to distinguish making a …
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It’s common for patients complaining of fatigue, fever, stiff joints, and overall body aches and malaise to seek treatment in an urgent care center. Depending on the season and what examination reveals—a telltale bullseye rash, for example—the clinician might suspect Lyme disease and be inclined to suggest the patient see another provider for testing and treatment. Even if they’re able to test on site, the patient would have to wait several days for the results …
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The Urgent Care Association has launched a public-facing campaign to get consumers to head to their local urgent care center to ward off influenza, now that the season has officially begun. In addition to stressing that the urgent care center is “the best place to receive flu vaccinations and other key winter healthcare services,” UCA’s message also focuses on herd immunity—the notion that higher immunization rates will result in lower incidence of illness across the …
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The FDA may have limited authority to reduce the number of opioid medications in circulation at any given time, but its commissioner, Scott Gottlieb, MD, is appealing to urgent care physicians, and prescribers everywhere, to take action. For starters, he said, the agency would like to construct “expert guidelines” informed by the medical community, with the idea that those guidelines could ultimately be reflected in drug labeling (over with the FDA does have authority). Speaking …
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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) now allows any state-licensed physician to perform medical exams for the half a million private and recreational pilots flying certain small noncommercial aircraft in the U.S., as long as they follow a simple FAA checklist. So far, more than 20,000 pilots have been qualified to fly under the program, called BasicMed. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association is actively promoting the program to its members and to medical associations in …
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Just the other day we shared data indicating that healthcare professionals are far less inclined to get a flu shot if their workplace doesn’t require it or offer the immunizations on site. Now comes word from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the whole country’s influenza vaccination rate has plateaued—leaving us all at higher risk for an outbreak. New figures from the CDC reveal that since the 2013-2014 season, the rate for adults …
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Despite longstanding advice that people over the age of 6 months should be vaccinated against influenza, more than half of healthcare professionals (HCPs) opt out unless they’re required to get a shot by their employers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 75% of HCPs got a flu shot in preparation for the 2016-2017 flu season—but in clinics and other settings where vaccination was not “required, promoted, or offered on site,” …
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is calling for a “renewed commitment from all players” to fight sharp increases in sexually transmitted diseases. In the past year alone, more than 2 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis were reported in the U.S. While 1.6 million of those cases were chlamydia, there were 470,000 cases of gonorrhea and nearly 28,000 cases of primary and secondary syphilis. Calling STDs “a growing threat,” the agency stressed …
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This should be prime time for recommending flu shots to patients, ideally offering to give one on the spot if medically appropriate for the patient’s condition at the time of service. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends everyone 6 months of age or older receive an influenza vaccine every year, preferably by the end of October. Just as important from an administrative (and legal) perspective is remembering to provide an official Vaccine Information …
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Physicians, including urgent care providers, may be taking more than their share of the blame for the ongoing opioid crisis in the U.S., according to a report by The New York Times and ProPublica. While some public officials and media outlets have accused doctors of, essentially, enabling opioid addiction by prescribing narcotic pain medications too liberally, data show that prices set by insurers may be steering doctors and patients alike away from less-addictive alternatives. Opioid …
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