Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Telehealth Providers Face Ever Stronger Headwinds

Industry observers are closely watching for fresh fallout among telehealth providers. For one, the declared end of the semaglutide drug shortage—as per the Food and Drug Administration—sent the stock of Hims & Hers Health, Inc. sliding about 40% within just a few days as investors realized the profits coming from compounding semaglutide for the telehealth company’s patients will quickly dwindle as providers must shift back to the manufacturer’s original brand drug products for weight management …

Teladoc The Latest Virtual Provider to Partner With Amazon

Amazon customers will now be prompted to sign up for Teladoc’s chronic care offerings thanks to a new partnership announced this week between the 2 organizations. Teladoc already has 1 million program participants, and the connection to Amazon will only boost its visibility and market presence. Anyone managing diabetes, hypertension, prediabetes and weight loss can now enroll in virtual care directly through Amazon’s Health Benefits Connector. Just like its agreement with Hinge Health, Talkspace, and …

Use Virtual Care for Tonsillitis Triage, Not Treatment

Virtual appointments may not be the ideal channel for leveraging the Centor Criteria for tonsillitis, which calls for a clinician to check a patient for fever as well as tender and swollen lymph nodes. A cross-sectional study of 189 patients published in Infectious Diseases, analyzed digital assessments in comparison to physical examinations when used to determine clinical recommendations for treatment of tonsillitis. The study included 3 urgent care clinics and 6 primary care practices in …

What’s New in Telemedicine for 2025?

Phyllis Dobberstein, CPC, CPMA, CPCO, CEMC, CCC The American Medical Association (AMA) added a Telemedicine Services category to the Evaluation and Management (E/M) section of the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code set. Codes are divided up by the technology used and the patient type (ie, new vs. established). These codes are for synchronous, real-time interactive encounters between the provider and the patient. Codes are leveled by medical decision making (MDM) or time, which is similar …

More Antibiotics Used in Virtual UC Compared to In-Person: Study

In a new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, data showed that antibiotic prescriptions for respiratory tract infections (RTIs) were significantly more common in virtual urgent care (UC) settings vs in-person UC settings. Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic found that 58% of RTI virtual visits resulted in an antibiotic prescription, while only 43% of in-person visits did. Data included 19,003 visits to virtual UC and 69,189 visits to in-person UC from 2018 through 2022. COVID-19 …

One Medical’s Call Center Quality Questioned

One Medical is under fire for failing to prioritize some patients who had symptoms that should have received immediate attention. The crux of the problem is that the virtual and in-person primary care provider—now owned by Amazon as a result of a $3.9 billion deal from February 2023—routes patients to a call center that is staffed in part by contractors with limited training, according to the Washington Post. The news outlet cites leaked documents that …

Joint Commission Offers Telehealth Accreditation for UC

The Joint Commission recently announced a new telehealth accreditation program (TEL) applicable to eligible hospitals and ambulatory care providers, including urgent cares. The TEL program requirements will be released this month with formal applications opening on July 1, 2024. New telehealth-specific requirements include: streamlined emergency management to address remote care rather than in a physical building; new standards for telehealth provider and patient education about the use of telehealth platforms and devices; and new standards …

Optum Set to Close Down Virtual Care

On a recent conference call, Optum notified some employees that its virtual care division will cease operations in July, according to Becker’s Health IT. Optum Virtual Care launched in 2021 and covers all 50 states. At UnitedHealth’s investor conference in November, Optum’s CEO implied that virtual care is a crowded market, and more recently, employees on social media have reported a significant workforce reduction at Optum, ranging from nurse case managers to senior director and …

Video Consultation May Not Have Advantages For Pediatric Prescribing

Researchers found the use of video telemedicine to conduct consultations for acutely ill children in rural and community emergency departments (EDs) does not reduce medication errors when compared to consultations done by telephone, as presented in JAMA Network Open. A randomized trial across 15 community and rural EDs that examined 696 cases of acutely ill children found no statistically significant differences in physician-related medication errors between cases leveraging telephone consultations when compared to cases leveraging …

Hackensack Integrates UC, Behavioral Health

In New Jersey, Hackensack Meridian Health is now offering its HMH Urgent Care, which integrates behavioral health with same-day urgent care and telemedicine visits. According to Becker’s Hospital Review, it’s the first urgent care that simultaneously provides both immediate medical care and services for psychiatric conditions as part of a strategy to reduce emergency department visits. The HMH Urgent Care suite includes short-term outpatient care for those 16 years and older to address anxiety, depression, mood …

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