Practice Management
When details of the “test to treat” initiative first emerged, it appeared that urgent care would once again be left out in the cold, unable to test patients for COVID-19 and then provide an immediate prescription and treatment on site; as originally detailed, it appeared that right was going to be conferred mainly to pharmacies. Then, as JUCM News readers know, the Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response …
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There was a certain amount of concern in some circles that abandoning mask mandates and taking other steps toward normalcy in response to dwindling COVID-19 infection rates could backfire. While it would be premature to assume the U.S. is headed for lockdowns like China is experiencing at present, new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do underscore the need for continued vigilance here. For example, as time goes on, it becomes more …
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With seemingly all eyes focused on COVID-19 for the past 2 years, patients (and even urgent care providers) could be forgiven for “forgetting” that there are countless other infectious diseases existing in the world. They’re out there, though—and release of the 2022 immunization schedule update from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should be a reminder for urgent care providers to ask patients if they’re up to …
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Signs are emerging that our collective celebratory spirit over the decline in COVID-19 cases and related hospitalizations and deaths could be short-lived. Parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe—the same regions to serve as a precursor to the United States’ own descent into pandemic pandemonium 2 years ago—are all seeing an increase in cases at present. Parts of China and South Korea have already returned to lockdown status, in fact. Socially, presumed driving forces include abandonment …
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We’ve known for a while that patients who’ve been infected with COVID-19 can experience breathing difficulties and other complaints long after they’ve recovered from the illness itself (though how long those could last remains to be seen). What is just coming to light, however, are possible extended effects on a patient’s mental state and cognitive functioning. And it goes way beyond “COVID fog.” According to an article published by Lancet Public Health, patients who experienced …
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ICV Partners, a Miami-based investment firm with a history of targeting lower middle market companies in healthcare and other “service” industries, has acquired Urgent Care Group and announced plans to combine it with its portfolio company, Total Access Urgent Care. Urgent Care Group actually serves three brands covering 24 locations in the Wilmington, NC and Atlanta areas and throughout South Carolina. All together, they employ more than 400 urgent care professionals and see more than …
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Just last week, we shared the news that freedom from masking and other measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 infection is expected to usher in an increase in the rate of sexually transmitted infection. Now Baptist Health South Florida reports that spring breakers visiting the area are already driving up visits associated with concerns for STIs. In a post on its website, BHSF encourages patients to seek assessment and treatment as soon as they’re …
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An urgent care center in Lincoln, NE really did discover the hard way that the company it contracted to process its claims appears to have been negligent in doing so. A ransomware attack on the vendor’s system revealed “a significant number of claims that were either not handled properly, not processed at all or otherwise neglected,” according to a suit filed by the UC operator as quoted in an article published by the Lincoln Journal …
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The war in Ukraine is imposing severe consequences beyond the obvious death and destruction in-country. While many Ukrainians have stayed put in order to take up arms against Russian advances, others—often with children in tow—are fleeing to Poland. While the Poles continue to welcome the refugees, the mounting numbers are likely to result in a healthcare crisis sooner than later. The U.S. urgent care community is distinguishing itself well by pitching in to assist, both …
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As JUCM News readers know (and as you may have experienced), the COVID-19 pandemic drove up patients presenting with symptoms of depression and anxiety. It should come as no surprise, then, that behavioral health urgent care facilities have been popping up with greater frequency recently. Just this week, media outlets in Arizona, New Jersey, and South Dakota carried news of the openings of walk-in mental health centers. That’s certain to be welcome news in the …
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