Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

NSAIDs in Urgent Care and Emergency Departments: A Narrative Review

Urgent Message: This narrative review of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) characterizes the specific evidence-based indications, previous studies on dosing and route, and side effects of these medications. It supports NSAIDs as an important class of medications in the management of acute pain in urgent care and emergency settings. Campbell Belisle Haley, MD; Andy T. Hsueh, MD; Chih-Hsuan Chen, MD; Ariana M. Nelson, MD Citation: Belisle Haley C, Hsueh AT, Chen CH, Nelson A. NSAIDs in …

Urgent Care De Novo Growth by Operator Size, 2022-2023

A compilation of 2022 and 2023 de novo urgent care center data shows a 7% decline in new locations: from 1,651 de novo centers in 2022 to 1,540 in 2023. A “de novo” center is a new urgent care location where services were not offered previously. The unit of measure is the physical site, meaning if an existing location already in operation happened to change ownership, such change is not counted as de novo growth. …

Abstracts in Urgent Care – April 2024

Rehabilitation in Post-Acute Anterior Shoulder Dislocation Take Home Point: This study suggests that routinely referring patients to a program of physical therapy is not superior to a single session of advice, supporting materials, and option to self-refer to physical therapy. Citation: Kearney R, Ellard D, Parsons H, et. al. Acute rehabilitation following traumatic anterior shoulder dislocation (ARTISAN): pragmatic, multicentre, randomised controlled trial. BMJ. 2024 Jan 17:384: e076925. doi: 10.1136/bmj-2023-076925. Relevance: Shoulder dislocations commonly present to …

Mitigating Suicide Risk in Young Patients: Urgent Care’s Role in Identifying Patients At-Risk And Saving Lives

Jeanne Marconi, MD Over the past 20 years, and more recently throughout the pandemic, suicide rates in the United States have generally been increasing; this has been especially true among adolescents and young adults.1 Despite improvements in recognition and appreciation of the impact of mental health issues, suicide rates continue to climb in America. Healthcare centers, whether inpatient or outpatient, have the unique opportunity to identify patients at-risk for self-harm and to intervene. These opportunities …

How Useful Is Ultrasound in Acute Female Pelvic Pain?

Andrew Alaya, MD, MSc Urgent Message: For time-sensitive diagnoses related to acute pelvic pain, ultrasound is generally the recommended initial diagnostic imaging study. While not universally available in urgent care, it can often be completed more rapidly than computed tomography or magnet resonance imaging. Citation: Alaya A. How Useful Is Ultrasound In Acute Female Pelvic Pain? J Urgent Care Med. 2024;18(7):35-40 Introduction Acute pain in the pelvic or lower abdominal region among women of reproductive …

Private Equity Ownership in Urgent Care By Number of Centers, 2024

Citation: Ayers A. Private Equity Ownership in Urgent Care By Number of Centers, 2024. J Urgent Care Med. 2024; 18(7):33-34 Although private equity started nibbling on urgent care as far back as 2007, its full investment push kicked off with the 2010 acquisitions and scaling of NextCare, MedExpress, and FastMed. Since that time, some regional platforms like Physicians Immediate Care, MD Now, and PhysicianOne have completed the entire private equity investment lifecycle of acquisition, scaling, and final …

Why Does Start-Up Contracting Take So Long?

Heather Rothermel Consider this scenario: You’ve decided to open an urgent care center. You’ve secured funding, found the perfect location, hired amazing providers, created build-out plans to make it your own, and set a go-live date to open your doors to your community. Then you realize you haven’t started contracting and credentialing. In many markets, contracting and credentialing for a start-up can take 9 to 12 months or longer, and operators must consider this timeline …

Change Cyberattack: How to Get Your Advance Payment From Insurers

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) earlier this week posted a letter to healthcare providers acknowledging their cash flow disruptions resulting from the Change Healthcare cyberattack that crippled mission-critical eligibility and claims processes nationwide. Providers were collectively losing as much as $1 billion a day for several weeks while they waited for Change to rebuild and relaunch its systems, according to a report from Axios. HHS officials also offered a practical resource guide …

Primary Care Operator Buys 11 VillageMD Sites

Walgreens recently completed the sale of 11 VillageMD clinics in Rhode Island to Arches Medical Partners (AMP), based in Boston. The sale is part of Walgreens’ broader initiative to boost profitability by divesting VillageMD primary care locations, following a period of weak fourth-quarter earnings in 2023. This week, the company announced 160 VillageMD clinics have been slated for closure—100 more than previously announced. The company recently exited the Florida market entirely and this week announced …

Mild Winters Keep Ticks Biting

The potential for greater spread of harmful pathogens is yet another negative aspect of climate change that should be examined closely, according to infectious diseases experts in a recent JAMA article. Atmospheric changes are driving alterations in pathogens and parasites as temperatures rise and weather extremes persist, including severe heat, droughts, and wildfires. Authors found recent rises in vector-borne, zoonotic, fungal, and waterborne diseases they believe are the result of climate change. Conditions such as …