Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Retail Health Clinics Aren’t Dead Yet

As more retailers lose their enthusiasm for primary care and urgent care services, traditional provider organizations still are in no position to ignore the market share that retailers may potentially gain. Kaufman Hall’s recent newsletter notes: “If these retailers want to find success in primary care, partnering with traditional providers could be a beneficial opportunity for all parties.” With retail clinics as a convenient front door, health systems and payers with provider assets could leverage …

Health Systems Break Ties With UnitedHealthcare

Several major health systems are struggling to reach contract agreements with UnitedHealthcare (UHC) to provide care services for members covered by the insurer. Recently, Duke Health posted in a blog that its UHC reimbursement is below the 25th percentile among similar hospitals in North Carolina, which it calls “unacceptable” as it continues contracting talks with UHC. If no agreement is achieved, Duke will be out-of-network as of November 1 for several health plan products, including …

UPMC, GoHealth Joint Venture Acquires MedExpress Locations

A new UPMC joint venture with GoHealth Urgent Care announced plans to acquire a number of MedExpress urgent care locations in 2025. The organizations state that new branding will rename UPMC urgent and express care locations as UPMC-GoHealth Urgent Care, and the partners will operate MedExpress locations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Virginia. New locations are also on the drawing board, they say, however, the number of new, jointly operated centers was not disclosed. Some …

Northwest UC Buys 10 Carbon Health Locations

Northwest Urgent Care, LLC, has entered into an agreement to purchase 10 Arizona urgent care centers from Carbon Health. According to the announcement, the acquisition will expand capacity and bring Northwest’s total number of locations to more than 80 when the deal closes in the fourth quarter of 2024. In the past 5 years, Northwest Healthcare has invested around $200 million in the Tucson metro area, which includes the addition of 2 hospitals. Northwest Urgent …

AAPA Wants a Word With AMA To Clear The Air On Workforce Shortages

The American Academy of Physician Associates (AAPA) in July sent a letter to the American Medical Association (AMA) requesting a meeting between the 2 organizations to talk through what AAPA believes is AMA’s “disparaging rhetoric” about the physician associate (PA) profession. The meeting never happened, and according to a follow-up letter, AAPA says, “the continued silence from the AMA raises concerns about your commitment to collaboration and finding solutions to strengthen America’s health care workforce …

Pandemic Fears Sparked Hundreds of Attacks on Health Workers

Between January 2020 to January 2023, 18 healthcare workers were killed and another 147 were injured in incidents related to the global COVID-19 pandemic, according to findings published in Health Security. In addition, 33 workers were kidnapped, and more than 100 other incidents involved damage to facilities. Sadly, workplace violence is common in the healthcare setting, the authors note, and the published study aimed to identify incidents specifically related to the pandemic—such as aggression against …

ADHD Drug Shortage Overlaps With Back-To-School

Just as students are returning to classrooms, the ongoing shortage of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drugs shows no signs of letting up. Many pharmacies have been out of stock, and manufacturers are not entirely caught up, according to Axios. In June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also issued an advisory to warn patients about potential access issues after the arrest and fraud indictment of 2 executives from a digital health company that …

College Concierge Care Could Compete With UC

For those willing to pay extra for faster access to care and essentially more of the clinician’s time, concierge models can offer patients enhanced convenience and personal attention beyond the traditional 15-minute primary care office visit. Now concierge medicine programs are springing up on college campuses, according to Axios. Programs are no doubt marketed to nervous parents who worry about their child being away from home and who likewise may be concerned about the quality …

Ardent Focused on Urgent Care Deals After IPO

The for-profit Ardent Health system closed its initial public offering about a month ago and said in a press release that it intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for working capital and to acquire complementary businesses. As it turns out, Ardent is targeting urgent care investment as its “most immediate focus” for the second half of the year—both de novo and acquisition deals—according to Modern Healthcare. Already this year, the organization has …

How KP Aims to Add Value Into the Retail Clinic Equation

In California, Kaiser Permanente (KP) operates 35 clinics inside Target retail stores, which seems like an unusual partnership on the surface. But in practice, the model helps KP open up capacity for office-based primary care physicians to handle chronic conditions and realize greater value for the system, according to Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc, President of Urgent Care Consultants and Senior Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. Ayers also believes the KP Target …