Practice Management
A pair of recently announced mergers may signal the advent of new trends in the urgent care marketplace. First, the joining of Xpress Wellness and Integrity Urgent Care, which puts 47 urgent care centers in rural Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas under a single corporate umbrella, reflects surging interest in providing services to residents outside of urban and suburban areas. At the same time, HCA is buying BetterMed and its 12 locations in central Virginia—further confirmation …
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The effectiveness and value of vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 continue to be confirmed with the publication of each new related study. Even detractors have to acknowledge that reductions in hospitalizations and deaths in the face of new variants speak to the capability of the vaccines to keep people both out of the hospital and alive even if they do get COVID-19. The latest such study published by The Journal of the American Medical Association reveals …
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Rates of new infections with SARS-CoV-2 were so consistently low after the post-holiday surge, per the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions COVID tracker, that many public health officials at the federal and state levels started to wonder if we could declare the pandemic “over.” Such conjecture now seems to have been premature as positive tests are again climbing (albeit relatively slowly), possibly thanks to new Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5. As first reported by …
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New data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention add to previously published reports indicating that the spread of gonorrhea, syphilis, and congenital syphilis actually increased in the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only that, but the jump seen in 2020 continued into the first part of 2021 compared with previous years. Gonorrhea cases grew by 10% between 2019 and 2020, while primary and secondary syphilis cases were up 7%. Worse, …
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Some patients have been scared off getting COVID-19 vaccine booster shots because they experienced a few days of malaise, chills, and overall ill feelings after getting the first shot. For many, especially older patients, those worries are unfounded according to an article just published by JAMA Network Open. A study of individuals between 60 and 79 years of age in Israel revealed that a second booster shot (ie, a third dose overall) resulted in at …
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As JUCM News has reported recently, the dynamics of the federal test-to-treat program designed to ensure efficiency in helping patients newly diagnosed with COVID-19 have proved difficult to decipher. Though as first described it seemed to leave urgent care out of the running to participate, the Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) clarified that urgent care centers who meet the relevant criteria may qualify to participate after …
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While the world’s attention continues to be consumed by the ever-fluctuating COVID-19 situation, another deadly virus has started making its way around the globe. And, unlike SARS-CoV-2, this one has shown to be a threat to children from the start. As the World Health Organization confirmed the death of at least one child from acute hepatitis of unknown origin, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging clinicians here to be vigilant for symptoms …
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Understandably, pregnant patients can get pretty conservative when it comes to what they’re willing to put in their body. Unfortunately, that has led some in recent years to decline getting fully vaccinated against COVID-19. While their intentions are virtuous—protecting their unborn children—their choices are not necessarily sound from a clinical perspective. In fact, newly published evidence of the safety of vaccines for pregnant patients may be useful in convincing vaccine-hesitant women that getting vaccinated is …
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Rural areas of the United States have never been known for easy access to high-quality healthcare. There’s simply not enough incentive for health systems to plant roots where patients are few and far between, leaving residents to weigh whether a 2-hour car drive followed by a long wait in the emergency room is worth it for a sore throat or a laceration that may not even need stitches. The increased risk for poor outcomes is …
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News that the Food and Drug Administration authorized a second booster shot of COVID-19 vaccine (a fourth dose, in other words) for immunocompromised individuals and all Americans over 50 years of age did not receive nearly the same celebratory response as earlier announcements of vaccine availability. The prevailing sense among the public, and probably at least a few healthcare professionals, seems to be that whatever degree of protection they already have will suffice. A new …
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