Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Legal Considerations and Urgent Care Management of Acute Compartment Syndrome in the Upper Extremity

Urgent Message: Compartment syndrome is a limb-threatening emergency that can present with variable clinical signs and symptoms. When the diagnosis is missed or delayed, poor functional outcomes and subsequent malpractice claims are common. Prevention of negative outcomes relies on early detection and a low-threshold for emergency department referrals. Josie L. Bunstine, DO; Ariel Cohen, DO Key words: Compartment Syndrome, Medical Malpractice Questions for the Clinician at the Bedside Abstract Acute compartment syndrome is a limb-threatening …

Optimism

The annual Urgent Care Convention is always my prime time for taking the pulse of the field. I hope you were among those able to join us in Dallas last month! There’s just no substitute for in-person conversations and observations. What I expected to hear is not what I heard. There are a lot of reasons to be pessimistic right now; some of them are new and some are the same challenges we’ve been working …

Patient Credit Card on File Increases Payments by 20%

Just as hotels require a credit card to cover any “incidentals,” urgent care is increasingly pre-authorizing patient credit cards at the time of service to cover any patient balances after their insurance claims adjudicate. Patient balances are often attributed to deductibles, co-insurance, or eligibility issues that can be difficult to identify at registration. Charging a patient’s credit card when an explanation of benefits is received should, in theory, reduce accounts receivable days, write-offs, and collections …

Meningococcal Vaccine Leveraged To Prevent Gonorrhea in England and Wales

A vaccine to prevent gonorrhea will soon be introduced in England and Wales as part of a targeted public health initiative—the first of its kind globally, according to health officials. Described as a “landmark moment for sexual health,” the program aims to address the rising rates of gonorrhea with preventive measures. The vaccine, originally developed to protect against meningococcal B disease, will be offered starting in early August at sexual health clinics commissioned by local …

Debate Continues On Acuity and Coding Trends in Urgent Care

A new study suggests there has been a rise in higher acuity coding across certain outpatient services. Among urgent care centers, the proportion of visits coded at higher complexity levels (CPT 99204 and 99205) increased overall from 34.0% in 2018 to 40.6% in 2023, while visits coded at level 1 (CPT 99202) declined from 9.5% to 2.9% over the same period. The most significant increases in high-intensity coding were observed in cases involving “blood and …

Brief Report: PrEPare for Action – A Quality Improvement Project for Expanding HIV Screening in the Urgent Care Setting During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Citation: Hunt E, Greger M, Shipley N. Brief Report: PrEPare for Action – A Quality Improvement Project for Expanding HIV Screening in the Urgent Care Setting During the COVID-19 Pandemic. J Urgent Care Med. 2025; 19(9): 21-23 Download the Article PDF: Brief Report: PrEPare for Action – A Quality Improvement Project for Expanding HIV Screening in the Urgent Care Setting During the COVID-19 Pandemic Urgent Message: A quality improvement program demonstrated the successful integration of …

Rural Communities May Soon Need More Urgent Care

A recent federal budget proposal that’s floating around Washington sketches out plans to eliminate parts of the Health Resources and Services Administration and its Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP), according to a JAMA Network news article. A provisional budget outline specifically mentions eliminating 4 rural health programs meant to sustain critical access hospitals in distress with a 25% cut for FORHP’s budget in fiscal year 2026. The impact of the cuts could be …

Cleveland Clinic’s Upfront Payment Policy Inspires Backlash

When Cleveland Clinic announced a new policy beginning on June 1 that requires patients to pay their out-of-pocket copays when they arrive for their scheduled appointments, it created controversy for the high-profile nonprofit system. If a patient isn’t able to pay upon check-in for nonemergent appointments, it results in the appointment being cancelled. Urgent care is not included in the new policy, so patients visiting any of the Cleveland Clinic’s 42 centers will not need …

Just How Convenient is Urgent Care For Older Americans?

A new survey of U.S. adults 50 aged years and older conducted in February by AARP further underscores the value of urgent care’s convenient access for communities. More than 80% of the 1,012 American adults sampled say there is an urgent care in their community, and 48% say they live within 10 minutes of an urgent care center. Another 27% say urgent care is 11-15 minutes away, 17% say it’s 16-30 minutes away, and just …

Basic Hand Washing Offers Return on Investment in Healthcare

The World Health Organization (WHO) offered a reminder this week that healthcare organizations and frontline health professionals should prioritize and revisit their hand hygiene practices. As a well-established and low-cost practice, proper hand hygiene safeguards patients and clinicians from infection, WHO says. Protective gloves reduce the risk of infection transmission, but they should not be used as a replacement for basic hand hygiene. Gloves can become contaminated and are frequently misused—such as being worn continuously …

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