Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Does Your Patient Really Have Penicillin Allergy? Probably Not.

A large international study found that direct oral challenge (DOC) can be a safe and effective strategy for identifying patients who have a true penicillin allergy. Researchers evaluated hospitalized adults who self-reported a penicillin allergy—a label that historically is attached to about 10% of patients, according to the study presented in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Among the 5,121 patients assessed, 30.7% underwent DOC; of these, 95.5% (95% confidence interval, 94.3%–96.5%) were safely “delabeled,” after assessing 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 …

As Flu Season Fades, Urgent Care Volume Remains Solid

Now that spring has arrived, respiratory virus season seems to be winding down across the country, according to the latest FluView report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Positive test rates for influenza were 9.8% for the week ending March 28, 2026, trending down as compared to the previous week (11.5%), and outpatient visits for respiratory illness also decreased to 2.6% of visits, down from 2.9%. In urgent care specifically, this month’s flu …

Imaging Ranks As Top Service Among Outpatient Visits

Nationally, imaging accounted for 24% of all outpatient visits and 17% of outpatient spending in 2022, according to a new issue brief from the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI). Only diagnostic testing and labs accounted for a larger proportion of outpatient visits by category (31%). Mammography and chest x-rays are the most common among imaging services. In terms of reimbursement, commercial payment for imaging is higher than what Medicare pays, with commercial reimbursement averaging 245–314% …

Doxy-PEP Lowers Syphilis Cases, Directing More Care Toward Pregnant Women

An analysis of surveillance data from January 2017–June 2025 in Washington’s King County area found a health clinic program that offered doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxy-PEP) starting in March 2023 was associated with substantial declines in syphilis diagnoses. Compared with projected trends, researchers found total cases decreased by 52.3% (3,031 fewer cases), as published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Reductions were greatest among cisgender men (−53.1%; 2,248 fewer cases) but were also observed in cisgender women (−46.9%; …

Deepfake X-Rays Could Be Hard To Spot

A new study in Radiology evaluated whether radiologists in 6 different countries could distinguish AI-generated (“deepfake”) radiographs from real images. In a subsequent phase of the study, 4 large language models (LLMs) were also tasked with deciding which images were authentic and which were deepfakes. Among 17 practicing radiologists, only 41% recognized AI-generated images as having poor technical quality at first look (“Did you notice anything unusual about these images?”). After learning that some images …

One-Third of Adults Use AI For Health, Avoiding Professional Care

Some 32% of U.S. adults say they have turned to artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots in the past year for health information, according to 2 recent surveys. The KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust found younger and lower-income individuals often turn to AI for help to avoid the costs and access barriers when seeking traditional healthcare services. What’s concerning is that many users skip professional follow-up entirely, including 58% of those seeking mental health …

Panic Attacks Might Be Another Side Effect of Fluoroquinolones

Researchers believe there may be a potential link between fluoroquinolone antibiotics and increased risk of panic attacks, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. Using the Food and Drug Administration’s Adverse Event Reporting System database, researchers examined 4 clinical trials and found panic attack prevalence was low (0.5%–1.8%) but was reported with wide confidence intervals. Case reports generally suggested a probable causal link, according to the authors. Further …

New Center Sites May Be Harder To Secure In Tight Real Estate Market

A new real estate report highlights a critical shortage of U.S. outpatient facilities, particularly in fast-growing Sun Belt markets. The JLL 2026 Medical Outpatient Building Perspective notes that while patient demand is surging due to aging demographics and a preference for cost-effective, community-based care, new construction has stalled because of high costs and financial risk. With 93% occupancy rates across the nation, space for independent practices is scarce; most new builds are currently dedicated to …

HMPV Seems To Peak In April

As every urgent care clinician knows, acute respiratory illnesses (ARIs) often present with many of the same symptoms, such as cough, fever, and rhinitis. A recent outpatient study of 7,143 patients with ARI published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases found that human metapneumovirus (HMPV) accounted for 4.7%–7.3% of cases during the 5 influenza seasons the authors examined (from 2016–2022), compared with 11.3%–13.6% for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and 30.2%–37.1% for influenza. HMPV circulated later in …

« Previous

Login to JUCM