Potential Impact of Urgent Care Providers in Facilitating Lung Cancer Screening

Published on February 26, 2026

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Claire Katen; Cindy Lockett, MD

It is well documented that Americans’ overall health lags behind that of other nations with the United States ranking 46th in life expectancy globally.¹ This disparity is likely driven by multiple factors with limited access to healthcare services playing a significant role.² As a premedical student, I, like many aspiring and active healthcare professionals, would like to close healthcare gaps and contribute to improving patient health outcomes.

The urgent care provides a unique opportunity to positively impact patients as it may be their sole healthcare interaction. While addressing acute issues, urgent care could also provide essential preventive services. 

Lung Cancer Screening In Urgent Care

In a project designed to improve patient care, I implemented targeted lung cancer screening in an urgent care setting. This setting serves a critical role for many patients who are acutely ill and may lack access to a primary care provider, leaving them without routine health maintenance. A significant portion of urgent care visits involve respiratory issues, such as upper respiratory infections, asthma, and exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), for which smokers are at increased risk. Recognizing that smokers face elevated health risks,³ urgent care visits present an ideal opportunity to engage patients in preventive care.

Through my project, I provided both smoking cessation counseling and information on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) lung cancer screening recommendations, which advise low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screenings for high-risk individuals. This approach not only addressed patients’ immediate health needs but also introduced preventive strategies to reduce the burden of lung cancer.

I chose to focus on lung cancer because it is preventable, treatable, and remains a common cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. This disease is the leading cause of cancer deaths with nearly 125,000 American citizens dying each year, and smoking responsible for approximately 90% of cases.⁴ Smoking cessation effectively reduces the risk of developing lung cancer,⁵ making it a key focus in preventive care. Addressing cessation at times when patients are experiencing smoking-related illnesses has been shown to increase success rates,⁶ making urgent care an ideal setting for these impactful discussions.

I followed the 2021 USPSTF Class B preventive care recommendations, which call for annual screening for lung cancer with LDCT in adults aged 50-80 years who have at least a 20 pack-year smoking history and currently smoke or who have quit within the past 15 years. Screening may be discontinued once a person has not smoked for 15 years or develops a health problem that substantially limits life expectancy or the ability or willingness to have curative lung surgery.⁷ This is a relatively new guideline that is key for early cancer detection but may be unfamiliar to many patients and providers. LDCT can detect lung cancer at its earliest stage when treatment can be lifesaving.⁸ 

Proactive Patient Approach

With the support of a local urgent care physician, I successfully engaged high-risk patients for participation in lung cancer screening intervention. My project was relatively straightforward. First, identify smokers at risk for lung cancer during their urgent care visit and provide them with smoking cessation advice. Second, facilitate access to LDCT imaging for early lung cancer detection. This was followed up with a phone call 6-8 weeks postvisit to identify any barriers they had to accessing the recommended care and to inquire if our intervention had an impact on patients’ health and smoking habits. The urgent care physician communicated with patients who had abnormal screening results, while the staff provided support in connecting these patients to appropriate follow-up care.

Nearly all patients expressed gratitude for this proactive approach, appreciating its focus on their health and well-being and reporting greater motivation to reduce or stop smoking. Twenty-five patients were successfully enrolled to participate in this project, receiving smoking cessation advice and LDCT imaging. LDCT screenings yielded clinically significant findings, detecting early-stage cancer in 1 patient and identifying a suspicious lung nodule in 1 other patient, which necessitated follow-up CT monitoring.

The most prevalent incidental findings, however, were undiagnosed coronary artery disease and COPD. These conditions are common comorbidities among smokers and are frequently detected during LDCT screening.⁹ Ten patients declined participation in the project, citing cost, lack of insurance coverage, and work-related time constraints as the most common barriers. Despite this, the project still received positive feedback. Twenty-four of the 25 patients who completed the initial scanning showed interest in continuing with annual LDCT scans in accordance with USPSTF guidelines.

Urgent care providers often face significant stress associated with high patient volumes. As a premedical student, I have limited firsthand experience of the daily pressures in urgent care; however, through my project, I discovered that identifying and educating patients then scheduling lung cancer screening took only about 5 extra minutes per high-risk patient. This small time investment enabled essential, preventive care that could lead to life-changing outcomes. When CT scan results were abnormal, patients required referrals to primary or specialty care, which added to the existing clinical workload. Although taking these extra minutes can be challenging in a setting focused on managing acute illnesses, the impact proved invaluable.

This experience reinforces the critical role urgent care providers could play in initiating preventive and follow-up care for high-risk individuals who might otherwise miss these vital services.

Despite the fast-paced and often challenging environment of urgent care medicine, I truly believe the majority of providers are dedicated to doing what is best for their patients. Patients put immense trust in their healthcare providers, expecting that their well-being will be prioritized in each interaction.

As an aspiring physician, I am determined to uphold this trust, bringing optimism that the care I provide will have a positive impact on my patient’s life. Recognizing that the patient I am caring for is a unique individual—a parent, child, spouse, sister, brother, or friend—is essential to providing empathetic and effective care. Every American deserves quality healthcare at every visit. Urgent care providers can be pivotal in initiating preventive care, even in high-pressure settings. This environment enables providers to deliver potentially life-saving care, especially for high-risk populations who might otherwise lack access to these preventive services.

References

1. WHO (World Health Organization). Life Expectancy at Birth by Country. Geneva, Switzerland: March 2021. https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/indicators/indicator-details/GHO/life-expectancy-at-birth-(years)
2. National Research Council (US) Panel on Understanding Divergent Trends in Longevity in High-Income Countries, Crimmins EM, Preston SH, Cohen B, eds. Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2011.
3. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (US) Office on Smoking and Health. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US); 2014.
4. Cancer Facts & Figures 2024. American Cancer Society. 2024. https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/annual-cancer-facts-and-figures/2024/2024-cancer-facts-and-figures-acs.pdf
5. United States Public Health Service Office of the Surgeon General; National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (US) Office on Smoking and Health. Smoking Cessation: A Report of the Surgeon General. Washington (DC): US Department of Health and Human Services; 2020.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK555591/
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7. Jonas DE, Reuland DS, Reddy SM, et al. Screening for Lung Cancer With Low-Dose Computed Tomography: Updated Evidence Report and Systematic Review for the US Preventive Services Task Force. JAMA. 2021;325(10):971-987. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.0377
8. Henschke CI, Yip R, Shaham D, et al. A 20-year Follow-up of the International Early Lung Cancer Action Program (I-ELCAP). Radiology. 2023;309(2):e231988. doi:10.1148/radiol.231988.
9. Morgan L, Choi H, Reid M, Khawaja A, Mazzone PJ. Frequency of Incidental Findings and Subsequent Evaluation in Low-Dose Computed Tomographic Scans for Lung Cancer Screening. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2017;14(9):1450-1456. doi:10.1513/AnnalsATS.201612-1023OC.