Ashley Blachford, Author at Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

New Year, New Data Breaches in Healthcare

Indiana University Health announced that in November there was unusual activity detected in an email account, resulting in a data breach across the health system’s tech infrastructure. An external investigation determined that a hacker may have obtained personal information, such as Social Security numbers, addresses, ages, medical record numbers, diagnoses, or other treatment information for some patients. Nonprofit Indiana University Health began notifying affected individuals on January 2, 2025, and is offering a call center …

Flu Trend Is High, May Have Reached Seasonal Peak

The final respiratory illness data for the last week of 2024 (ending December 28) show that influenza is trending ahead of both COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus among children and adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with a hospitalization rate of 4.3 per 100,000. Flu’s positivity rate was up 18.7% over the previous week, and the overall percentage of emergency department visits with a discharge diagnosis of influenza was 5.2%—compared to …

New Mobile Urgent Care Launches in Louisiana

A new at-home urgent care (UC) provider, Urgent Care On The Go, launched in late December 2024 in half a dozen cities in southern Louisiana, offering mobile urgent care as well as a brick-and-mortar wellness center in Opelousas, Louisiana. For a single fee of $199 per visit, members can access treatment for acute illnesses and injuries as well as lab tests and other services. Some services, such as IV infusions for medically diagnosed conditions, are …

Ardent Health Buys 18 NextCare Locations

Ardent Health, which operates 30 acute care hospitals in 6 states, last week acquired 18 urgent care clinics from NextCare Urgent Care. NextCare is in the Enhanced Healthcare Partners investment portfolio and up until now included approximately 170 clinic locations, according to a 2024 JUCM analysis. The transaction includes 6 urgent care clinics in New Mexico, which will operate as part of Lovelace Health System, as well as 12 clinics in Oklahoma that will become …

Norovirus Cases Surge Across The United States

Cases of norovirus are surging in some parts of the United States, with 91 outbreaks as of early December 2024, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Norovirus is often transmitted through fresh food or water, and long-term care facilities, childcare centers, and cruise ships tend to be the most common settings of outbreaks. The most common symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, and stomach pain. Each year, there are about 2,500 reported …

Use Virtual Care for Tonsillitis Triage, Not Treatment

Virtual appointments may not be the ideal channel for leveraging the Centor Criteria for tonsillitis, which calls for a clinician to check a patient for fever as well as tender and swollen lymph nodes. A cross-sectional study of 189 patients published in Infectious Diseases, analyzed digital assessments in comparison to physical examinations when used to determine clinical recommendations for treatment of tonsillitis. The study included 3 urgent care clinics and 6 primary care practices in …

Flu Vaccine More Than 55% Effective in Recent Years

The effectiveness of the seasonal influenza vaccine for kids was more than 55% during the respiratory virus seasons from November 2015 to April 2020, according to a study in JAMA Network Open. The 15,728 US children ages 6 months to 17 years who were studied realized protection against emergency department (ED) visits or hospitalization with at least 1 dose of the vaccine. No difference in estimated effectiveness was observed based on varying levels of flu …

Racial Bias May Influence Identification of Potential Child Abuse

Most healthcare workers use vigilance when treating children with injuries that could signal a potential case of child abuse, but bias can influence perception. According to a study published in JAMA Network Open, Black children hospitalized for traumatic injuries are more likely to be suspected of having experienced possible child abuse than White children. When examining data for 634,309 pediatric patients, researchers demonstrated 75% greater odds of suspicion for child abuse for Black patients and …

Severe H5N1 Avian Influenza Case Shows Mutations After Infection

In mid-December, a case of H5N1 (avian influenza) in Louisiana was reported as the first instance of severe illness linked to the virus in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has now sequenced the H5N1 virus in specimens collected from the patient in Louisiana who became severely ill and compared them to other H5N1 sequences from dairy cows, birds, poultry, and previous human cases. After studying this genetic analysis, researchers …

Americans: US Healthcare System Is Worse Than Ever

Americans have given the US healthcare system a record-low quality rating, while 70% of respondents in a national survey also believe that the healthcare system at large has major problems or is in a state of crisis, according to a recent Gallup poll of more than 1,000 adults. Sentiment is now at its lowest point since the polling organization began monitoring opinions on the topic in 2001. The percentage of those who say the quality …