Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

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 …

Law Doubles the Penalties for Assaulting Healthcare Workers in Michigan

Michigan has 2 new laws going into effect on March 4 to combat the frightening rise in verbal and physical attacks on healthcare workers. The bipartisan bills, signed into law by the governor in December, double the penalties and fines for assaulting healthcare professionals or volunteers, according to a news item in Crain’s Grand Rapid Business. Offenders face up to a 93-day jail sentence and a $1,000 fine for assaulting workers on duty. If the …

Oregon Seeks to Limit PE Ownership of Urgent Cares

In Oregon, proposed legislation could dramatically limit corporate ownership of primary care, specialty, and urgent care clinics. Proponents say they’re concerned about the potential quality issues, staff reductions, increased costs, and the “depersonalization” of ownership they believe comes with private equity control, according to an article by Oregon Public Broadcasting. The bill’s language builds on existing rules in the state and would require clinics with corporate ownership to ensure the majority owners (51%) are physicians. …

Physician Fined for Lax Supervision of NP

A California nurse practitioner (NP) with a doctorate degree was fined $20,000 in 2022 for illegally presenting herself as a physician and referring to herself as “doctor” when interacting with patients. The NP, Sarah Erny, was supervised by Anika Moore, MD, who has now been fined $25,000 for unlawful supervision of Erny’s conduct, according to Medscape. An investigation found that Moore—who lived in Massachusetts—never reviewed any medical records for Erny’s patients, and Erny ultimately opened …

ED Car Crash Underlines Every Center’s Liability to Protect

Medical buildings can be vulnerable to any number of disruptive accidents that might cause harm to patients or prevent the delivery of care, including motor vehicle incidents. For example, 1 person died and 5 others were injured after a vehicle crashed into the emergency department at the St. David’s North Austin Medical Center in Austin, Texas, last week, according to news reports. In the St. David’s case, 3 team members received minor injuries from the …

Amazon Discovers That Healthcare Is Complicated

From its acquisition of One Medical primary care to its online pharmacy, Amazon has a history of trying to disrupt the status quo. However, the news is out that Amazon has now laid off “a few hundred” of its staff within these healthcare lines of business and is closing at least 3 One Medical corporate offices. Richard Zane, MD, chief innovation officer of UCHealth in Colorado, which offers urgent care services, recently told Becker’s Hospital …

Measles Cases Reported in 8 States And Counting

Cases of measles have been cropping up in Delaware, New Jersey, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington with additional cases reported in the past week in Ohio and Maryland. In the Maryland case, the department of health warned the public about possible exposure at Dulles International Airport. Officials in Philadelphia at the end of January confirmed at least 9 known cases in that city alone. It’s concerning because measles was declared eliminated in 2000 by the Centers for …