Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

AI Model Expands ECG’s Diagnostic Potential

An AI model developed by researchers at New York-Presbyterian and Columbia University Irving Medical Center has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration for use in detecting structural heart disease through electrocardiograms (ECGs), according to a news release. Known as EchoNext, the deep learning model was trained to detect a broad range of structural abnormalities, as published in Nature: The model analyzes a routine 12-lead ECG and estimates whether a patient is likely to …

AMA Doubles Down on Limits For Artificial Intelligence

The American Medical Association (AMA) developed a new set of policies at its recent annual meeting of the AMA House of Delegates to help ensure that AI is used to augment, not replace, physician decision-making, as outlined in a press release. While the policies aim to address a broad range of healthcare AI applications, they reinforce basic principles for payers and providers that use AI-powered tools. Not surprisingly, the association opposes the use of autonomous …

The Risks of Fully AI-Driven Revenue Cycle Management

Kimberly Hardin, Josh Rainey As healthcare organizations look to modernize operations, the idea of a fully artificial intelligence (AI)-driven revenue cycle management (RCM) system is increasingly appealing in urgent care. Automating everything from coding and charge capture to claims submission and denial management promises efficiency, speed, and reduced labor costs. However, moving to a truly autonomous AI model introduces a range of risks that organizations must carefully evaluate before making the leap. Financial Exposure and …

Physician Use of AI Increases As Confidence Grows

A new survey from the American Medical Association’s (AMA) Center for Digital Health and AI found that physician use of AI has increased substantially, with 81% reporting use in practice now compared with 38% in 2023. The average number of use cases per physician also rose from 1.1 to 2.3. Physicians say they most commonly use AI for research summarization and clinical documentation. Confidence in AI is increasing too, with more than 75% of surveyed …

New Amazon AI Tools Sum Up Information, Handle Scheduling

Amazon Web Services has introduced Amazon Connect Health, a collection of artificial intelligence tools, including features that help clinicians sort out clinical information from patient histories. Amazon reasons that clinicians and staff spend too much time cobbling together information, and the new agentic AI tools can take on that task instead. Already in service at UC San Diego, the AI suite is verifying patients’ identities; handling appointment scheduling in real time; creating summaries of medical …

How Should Regulators Structure New AI Rules?

The American Hospital Association (AHA) and healthcare solution providers are chiming in on how they want federal regulators to structure their oversight of artificial intelligence and its integration into clinical care. For example, AHA suggested that regulations should rely on existing rules to smooth the path to innovation while also preempting state laws. It also wants to see AI companies required to meet compliance standards for privacy and security as HIPAA-covered entities. Additionally, AHA emphasizes …

Stop Waiting For ‘AI-Native’ Clinicians, Invest in Upskilling Now

Urgent Message: Invest in artificial intelligence upskilling across your organization by dedicating resource time and funding for educational activities. It’s a critical strategy for urgent care operators to improve staff retention and operational readiness. Keywords: clinician upskilling; AI literacy; workflow adoption; clinical documentation; decision support; change management Burnout remains a serious consideration across healthcare, and urgent care is no exception. At the same time, artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping how we deliver and manage care. …

Abstracts in Urgent Care – January 2026

Prevention of RSV Disease in Healthy Infants Take Home Point: In this early phase, drug-manufacturer-funded clinical trial, a single dose of clesrovimab reduced the incidence of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-associated medically attended lower respiratory infection and RSV-associated hospitalization, with a safety profile similar to that of a placebo. Citation: Zar HJ, Simões E, Madhi S, et. al. Clesrovimab in Infants and Children at Increased Risk for Severe RSV Disease. New Eng J Med. 2025:393, 13;1292-1303. …

More Than Half of Hospitals Embrace Generative AI

A national survey of 2,174 U.S. acute care hospitals found growing uptake of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools integrated with electronic health records (EHRs) in 2024, as published in JAMA Network Open. A total of 762 hospitals (31.5%) were considered “early adopters,” meaning they currently use integrated, generative AI. Another 24.7% say they plan to have implementation within a year (“fast followers”), suggesting that more than half of the hospitals surveyed would have adoption by …

Accurate AI Coding Boosted Reimbursement Among Highmark Providers

Highmark Health is finding that artificial intelligence (AI) can influence reimbursement, according to Modern Healthcare. The integrated system’s insurance unit posted an operating loss that was tied to higher utilization as well as an increase in coding accuracy coming from providers in their claim submissions. Thanks to AI, providers are more likely to submit cleaner claims that better reflect the reality of clinical care and patient acuity—which also may incur higher reimbursement. It’s not fraud, …

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