Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

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 …

RSV and Flu Tied to Severe Pediatric Respiratory Illness

In a cohort study of 516 children with viral respiratory infections who were hospitalized, researchers found 34 (6.6%) developed severe disease—defined as a clinical severity score greater than 3 (on a scale of 1-6), as published in JAMA Network Open. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza were strongly associated with worse outcomes. In multivariable analysis, RSV diagnosis (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 4.26; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.80–10.10) and influenza diagnosis (AOR, 4.13; 95% CI, 1.88–9.04) …

How To Improve Pediatric Hypertension Detection

Pediatric hypertension affects approximately 3-5% of children, yet fewer than 25% of cases are diagnosed and more than 60% do not receive recommended follow-up. In a study presented in JAMA Network Open including 25 clinicians across 10 pediatric primary care clinics, researchers in Delaware and Pennsylvania identified 5 major barriers that could affect the detection of kids’ hypertension. In semistructured qualitative interviews, clinicians cited the absence of standardized clinical pathways (endorsed by 80%), inconsistent training …

States Look To Limit Medical Debt Wage Garnishment

Lawmakers in Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, and Washington are looking to add protections for patients with unpaid medical debt by prohibiting wage garnishment for bill collection, according to MedPage Today. Proponents are concerned that some garnishment might occur for incorrect billing or that siphoning away a worker’s wages could leave low-income families without the money they need for heat, food, or housing. However, providers have concerns about accumulating bad debt that could …

Should Nurses Deliver More Care To Address Physician Shortages?

A recent Cochrane review and meta-analysis evaluated the impact of “substituting nurses for physicians” in the hospital setting, based on the rationale that demand for health services is increasing worldwide at a time when there is also a shortage of physicians. Leveraging nurses more could be a way to improve access for many provider organizations. Across 80 randomized studies involving about 28,000 patients in 20 countries, researchers from Ireland, United Kingdom, and Australia found advanced …

Remind Parents To Avoid Inclined Sleepers For Their Infants

Sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUIDs) associated with the use of “inclined sleepers”—baby seats that are not firm or flat, which also do not align with the established recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)—kept rising even after such products were recalled in 2019, according to a study published in Pediatrics. From 2009 to 2023, there were 158 SUIDs in inclined sleepers, and 50 deaths (32%) occurred after 2019. An additional 108 deaths (68%) occurred …

POC Viral Testing and Stewardship Reduces Antibiotic Prescribing in UC

Researchers found combining a 15-pathogen point-of-care (POC) respiratory viral panel with an antimicrobial stewardship intervention program resulted in reduced antibiotic prescribing in an urgent care setting in Louisiana, as published in Microbiology Spectrum. Alongside the stewardship program—which included patient education and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s MITIGATE tool kit—the POC panel was used for 296 adult patients, and results were compared with 600 seasonally matched historical controls. Overall antibiotic prescribing decreased from 38.2% …

Antivirals Underprescribed For Older Adults

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found low use of COVID-19 antiviral drugs among individuals age 65 and older, even though it’s a population at high risk of severe illness and COVID-19–related hospitalization, according to the recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Researchers examined cases in outpatient settings with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result or COVID-19 diagnosis during June 1, 2023–September 30, 2025. A total of 482,456 patient encounters with a COVID-19 diagnosis …

Measles Exposure Sites Include Urgent Cares, Airports, Disneyland

As of February 19, 2026, there were 982 confirmed measles cases reported in the United States for the year so far, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—a high case count for a year that is barely 2 months in. By comparison, there were a total of 2,280 cases through all of 2025. Public health leaders and clinicians are facing 5 new outbreaks this year in at least 26 states. Health departments …

It’s Hard To Predict Who Might Be At Risk For Food Allergies

An analysis of 190 studies including 2.8 million children published in JAMA Pediatrics found that approximately 4.7% of children develop food allergy by age 6. The strongest risk factors for food allergy include several prior allergic conditions: atopic dermatitis in the first year of life (odds ratio [OR] 3.88, risk difference [RD] 12%); allergic rhinitis (OR 3.39, RD 10%); and wheeze (OR 2.11, RD 5%). Markers of skin barrier dysfunction, including elevated transepidermal water loss, …

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