Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Practice Management

 

Urgent Care News

Flu Season Off to Slow Start in 2024-2025

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that respiratory virus activity remains low …
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Caffeine-Related ED Visits Double for Teens and Tweens

Caffeinated drinks seem to have become a lifestyle for American teens and tweens. A recent …
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WellNow Returns to In-Network Status With Excellus BCBS 

Breaking a 10-month stalemate, WellNow Urgent Care and Excellus BlueCross BlueShield (BCBS) have at last …
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FDA Considers Removing Decongestant From Store Shelves

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is looking to remove oral phenylephrine from its list …
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Mycoplasma Pneumoniae Infections Rising Among Children

Just as urgent care centers across the nation prepare for peak flu season, the Centers …
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Original Research Articles

Development of a Positive Urinalysis Criteria Using a Machine Learning Approach

Urgent Message: There are no consensus definitions for what defines a “positive” urinalysis in the …
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Development and Implementation of a Headache and Migraine Pathway in Pediatric Urgent Care: A Quality Improvement Initiative

Urgent Message: There are an estimated 250,000 visits annually associated with pediatric headaches in the …
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Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events in Patients with Chest Pain And Moderate Heart Risk Scores Who Were Referred For An Expedited Outpatient Cardiology Evaluation: A Multi-Center Descriptive Study

Urgent Message: Patients with a moderate-risk HEART score referred from an urgent care center for …
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Fast Track Improves Patient Flow and Wait Times in the Pediatric Urgent Care: A Quality Improvement Project

Urgent Message: Fast trackmodels aim to improve patient throughput metrics for low-acuity patients. In this …
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Return Visits and Hospitalization Rates of Adult Patients Discharged with Tachycardia After an Urgent Care Visit: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Urgent Message: Patients discharged from an urgent care clinic with tachycardia were found to have …
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Clinical Articles

Dyspnea in the Urgent Care

Dyspnea in the Urgent Care: Differentiating Benign From ‘Can’t Miss’

Urgent Message: Patients commonly present with respiratory symptoms in the urgent care setting and not infrequently complain of some degree …
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Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma Feature Image

A Review of Genital Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma Infections for the Urgent Care Clinician

Urgent Message: Mycoplasma species, most notably Mycoplasma genitalium are an increasingly recognized etiology of persistent urethral discomfort and non-gonococcal urethritis …
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Pelvic Pain

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 …
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Isolated Sternal Fractures

Isolated Sternal Fractures After Trampoline Falls in Children: A Case Series

Urgent Message: Isolated sternal fractures in children can occur from relatively minor trauma, such as a trampoline fall, and patients …
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Practice Management Articles

Requests for Medical Records by Subpoena

How Should an Urgent Care Handle Requests for Medical Records by Subpoena?

Urgent Message: Urgent care centers need documented, consistent, and reportable processes for receiving, tracking, responding to, and collecting payment on …
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ASD Services

ASD Services Fit With Existing UC Business Models

Urgent Message: Rapid growth in the autism spectrum disorder services (ASD) sector may present an expansion opportunity for urgent care …
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Guardrails for Nonsufficient Funds and Credit Card on File Fees

Guardrails for Nonsufficient Funds and Credit Card on File Fees

Urgent Message: Urgent care operators must navigate emerging federal, state, and payer regulations when developing financial policies that require payment …
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Need for STI Testing in Urgent Care

The Urgent Need for STI Testing in Urgent Care Centers

Urgent Message: With STI rates rising, urgent care centers have a unique opportunity to address a pressing public health need …
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Insights in Images Challenges

CASE REPORTS

Urinary Retention Caused by a Urethral Stone Diagnosed with Point-of-Care Ultrasound: A Case Report

Urgent Message: Urethral obstruction can occur due to impacted urinary calculi. This etiology should be considered …
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Puffy Hand Syndrome: A Case Report

Urgent Message: Incorporating questions regarding the use of intravenous drugs may help ensure the diagnosis of …
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Could This Young Patient Really Have a STEMI? A Case Report of a Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection

Urgent Message: It is important to quickly obtain an electrocardiogram in patients presenting with chest pain …
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Recognition and Management of Achenbach Syndrome (Paroxysmal Finger Hematoma)

Urgent Message: By understanding the symptoms of paroxysmal finger hematoma, clinicians can reduce patient anxiety and …
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Emesis Ad Nauseum: A Case Report of Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome in Urgent Care

Urgent message: Frequent cannabis use can lead to a syndrome characterized by severe and cyclical vomiting …
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HEALTH LAW

Changing an Employee from Full-Time to Part-Time Status

Urgent message: Whether due to reduced staffing needs or employee preference, some employees in urgent care …
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Are Urgent Care Providers Liable if They Don’t Test Patients for COVID?

Click Here to download the PDF. Urgent message: As the severity of newer strains of SARS-CoV-2 …
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Who Can Take X-Rays in an Urgent Care Center?

Urgent message: Given that x-ray is a differentiating feature of “urgent care” and the current challenges …
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What Qualifies Someone to Take X-Rays in the Urgent Care Center? It All Depends on Where You’re Located

X-rays are high on the list of services patients expect urgent care centers to provide when …
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Avoiding Defamation Lawsuits in Urgent Care

Urgent message: People are unlikely to trust their healthcare to a provider with a sullied reputation, …
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JUCM CAREER CENTER

Download Past Issues

 

Journal of Urgent Care Medicine November 2024 Cover Feature Image

November 2024: Proximal Humerus Fractures: A Frequent First Finding in Frailty

VIEW ISSUES ARCHIVE

CLINICAL CHALLENGES

30-Year-Old With Back Pain

A 30-year-old woman presents to urgent care with pain in her lower back and pelvis. She denies any injury or …
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59-Year-Old With History Of Hypertension

A 59-year-old male with a past medical history of hypertension presents with dyspnea and pleuritic chest pain in urgent care, …
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25-Year-Old With Hand Rash

A 25-year-old man undergoing chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, and dexamethasone for acute lymphoblastic leukemia arrives in urgent care because …
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30-Year-Old With Foot Inversion Injury

A 30-year-old man presents to urgent care with lateral ankle pain and swelling after a foot inversion injury he sustained …
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16-Year-Old With History Of Orchiopexy

A 16-year-old male with a history of orchiopexy presents with syncope. He denies chest pain or shortness of breath. An …
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OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE

Does Concentra’s New Acquisition Foreshadow a New Era for UC and Occ Med?

On the surface, it seems like the kind of event that has become commonplace in urgent care: A large, national …
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Update: The COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for Many Businesses Is Off—Again

Just when you thought you had clarity on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s mandate to vaccinate workers at businesses …
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That Vaccine Mandate for Private Businesses That Was Called Off? It’s on Again—and the Clock Is Ticking

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration’s plan to require employers with 100 or more workers to institute a COVID-19 vaccine …
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Your Occ Med Clients Need Your Support with the New COVID-19 ETS—Immediately

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration just issued an Emergency Temporary Standard intended to protect workers from getting infected with …
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More People Are Trudging Off to Work on Site. Do You Know Who’s at Greatest Risk for COVID-19?

While some employers are content to maintain remote or hybrid work situations for their workers, either because of strong stances …
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Revenue Cycle Management

Look Ahead For RCM Success

We are deep into the fourth quarter of 2024, and you are probably preparing for the holidays and wrapping up …
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ICD-10-CM: What’s New for 2025

Phyllis Dobberstein, CPC, CPMA, CPCO, CEMC, CCC We are heading into fall, and fall starts with updates to the ICD-10-CM …
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When An Urgent Care Contracts as Primary Care

Over the past 2 decades, urgent care has been on the forefront of consumerism. Increasingly, healthcare consumers are realizing how …
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What Did We Learn From the Change Healthcare Outage?

Phyllis Dobberstein, CPC, CPMA, CPCO, CEMC, CCC Nearly all of us in the healthcare ecosystem were impacted by the cyberattack on …
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Contracting: Primary Care Versus Urgent Care

Heather Rothermel When considering contracting for your clinic, it will be important to know how you plan to market your …
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DEVELOPING DATA

Size and Ownership of U.S. Urgent Care Centers

As of September, 2024, there are a total of 14,245 urgent care centers in the United States, according to National …
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Few Misused Rx Drugs Prescribed in Urgent Care

According to the United States Department of Justice, the most common prescription drugs that are misused fall into 1 of …
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NPS Predicts Success in UC

The net promoter score (NPS) is a customer experience metric devised by business researcher Fred Reichheld, MBA, which measures how …
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Patient Arrival Times In Urgent Care

The table above shows the percentage of patients within an average day who arrived during each hour of operations, based …
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Categorization of Codes Most Frequently Used in Urgent Care

International Classification of Disease (ICD) codes—maintained by the World Health Organization and published in the United States by the Centers …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care

Abstracts in Urgent Care – November 2024

Sophistication of ECG for Detection of Acute Coronary Syndromes Take Home Point: Cardiac electrical biomarker (CEB), a finding detectable on …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care – October 2024

Public Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence Use in Healthcare Take Home Point: Patient and healthcare workers surveyed were generally accepting of …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care – September 2024

Can Large Language Models Help in Assessing Acuity of Patients Presenting to ED? Take Home Point: Integration of large language …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care – July/August 2024

Use of NEXUS II Clinical Decision Tool for Blunt Head Injuries in Elderly Patients Take Home Point: Older patients with …
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Abstracts in Urgent Care – June 2024

Using AI to Detect Myocardial Infarction Take Home Point: The use of an occlusive myocardial infarction (OMI) artificial intelligence (AI) …
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

‘As Little as Necessary…’– A Mantra for Urgent Care

“Do as little as necessary, not as much as possible.” This is the mantra I recite throughout every urgent care …
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Our Success in Urgent Care is Defined by How We Play Our ‘Greatest Hits’

Recently one evening, I meandered into a bar on iconic 6th Street in Austin, Texas— America’s epicenter for live music …
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‘What Happens If We Do Nothing?’ Is Still the Right Question

Joshua Russell, MD, MSc, FACEP, FCUCM “It only hurts right here,” Rich told me, pointing to a tender spot on …
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Broader Issues Surround ‘Work Note Seeking’

Joshua Russell, MD, MSc, FCUCM, FACEP Who among us has worked a single urgent care (UC) shift without at least …
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What Happens If We Do Nothing?

Joshua Russell, MD, MSc, FCUCM, FACEP In its most modern form, medicine revolves around action. We are trained as clinicians …
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