Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

An Atypical Cause of Fever and Confusion: A Case Report of Delayed Pulmonary Embolism Diagnosis

Francesca Cocchiarale, DO; Alexa Bailey, MS-3; Michael Weinstock, MD Urgent Message: Pulmonary embolism can be frequently missed as a diagnosis because it can present with a variety of signs and symptoms. Understanding clinical decision rules and myriad presentations can help urgent care providers determine when patients benefit from immediate referral to an emergency department. Citation: Cocchiarale F, Bailey A, Weinstock M. An Atypical Cause of Fever and Confusion: A Case Report of Delayed Pulmonary Embolism …

55-Year-Old Male With Dyspnea

A 55-year-old male with a history of heart failure presents to the urgent care with dyspnea. An ECG is obtained. View the ECG captured above and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page.

Free Advice

Members of the Urgent Care Association (UCA) get a lot of “free” stuff—resources, checklists, podcasts, job searches, magazines, webinars, templates, plans, and so on. But this year at the Urgent Care Convention we are going one better (two, actually). I’m talking about our new “Ask a Consultant” sessions and our Quality Programs Center, both of which essentially provide the space for free consulting (yes, free). The Ask a Consultant sessions feature top, vetted consultants who …

Supervising Doctors May be Held Liable in Malpractice Suits

Urgent Message: A supervising physician can be named in a lawsuit for malpractice against a nurse practitioner or physician assistant, however, there are steps supervising physicians can take to protect themselves against such actions. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc In urgent care settings, physicians are often responsible for supervising and overseeing a team of other healthcare employees, including nurse practitioners (NPs), physician assistants (PAs), and medical assistants (MAs). If any member of this team is …

53-Year-Old Female With Fatigue

A 53-year-old female with no significant past medical history presents to the urgent care with progressive fatigue for several weeks. An ECG is obtained. View the ECG captured above and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page.

Nine Recurring Coding Pitfalls for Urgent Care Clinicians to Avoid

Brad Laymon, PA, CPC, CEMC Over my career as a physician assistant, I have delved extensively into the intricacies of medical coding guidelines. Through collaborative initiatives with healthcare systems and fellow clinicians, I have been able to identify 9 common, recurring coding pitfalls. This process came with significant time and experience, and I want to share what I’ve learned as my ultimate objective has always been advancing charting accuracy to instill confidence among providers in …

Updates in Weight Management Pharmacotherapy: Essential Knowledge For The Urgent Care Clinician

Urgent Message: As more glucagon-like peptide-1 and gastric inhibitory polypeptide agonists are prescribed, it is important for clinicians to have familiarity adverse reactions and complications that may present in urgent care. Sergio Ramoa, MD, MS; Darya Zakirov, MS, APRN, FNP-C; Pascale Carbonara, MD; Deann Isherwood, MSN, FNP; Tu-Mai Tran, MD, MSc Citation: Ramoa S, Zakirov D, Carbonara P, Isherwood D, Tran TM. Updates in Weight Management Pharmacotherapy: Essential Knowledge For The Urgent Care Clinician. J …

Why Specialty Recognition Matters More Than Ever for Urgent Care

Commuting in Jakarta can be a nightmare. The average citizen in Indonesia’s capital city spends weeks stuck in urban transit each year. Compare this with Singapore, which is consistently rated one of the best cities in the world for commuters. The difference between the day-to-day experience of residents of each city is stark. The root cause of why these two metropolises of southeast Asia have such disparate commuter experiences lies in the contrast of how …

Walgreens Pulls Village Medical Out of Multiple Markets

After investing $5.2 billion in VillageMD in 2021, Walgreens initially had plans to open at least 600 Village Medical primary care clinics within Walgreens retail pharmacy locations in 30 markets by 2025, aiming to amass about 1,000 clinics by 2027. However, last week in what seems like a relative backpedal, Walgreens announced it is now closing all its VillageMD sites in Illinois and Florida, a Drug Store News story revealed. Illinois currently hosts 6 locations, and Florida …

UCA Highlights Bipartisan Effort to Encourage Use of UC

The Urgent Care Association (UCA) recently led a new effort that asks the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to include policies in the forthcoming FY 2025 Physician Fee Schedule that would encourage those covered by Medicare and Medicaid to seek non-emergent care at urgent care centers. A letter written by Ann Kuster (D-NH), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Darin LaHood (R-IL), and Michael Burgess (R- TX) that was signed by 26 members of Congress from both …