Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Some States Are Moving to View APPs Like Physicians. What Does This Mean for Urgent Care?

Utah state legislators just voted to expand physician assistants’ ability to practice without physician supervision. North Dakota did the same 2 years ago. While that’s clearly a nod to advanced practice providers’ essential role in administering healthcare, as well as a concession to the downturn in physicians choosing to practice primary care, there are concerns among some in the urgent care community that the trend toward recognizing care provided PAs and nurse practitioners on the …

Will Better Weather Spark the Perfect Storm for a COVID-19 Surge?

Every year at this time, much of the country starts to shake off the winter doldrums. The days are longer, the temperature starts creeping up, and there’s a sense of renewal. People just can’t wait to say goodbye to winter and to being stuck inside. This year, of course, that urge may be particularly strong. The fatigue of social distancing restrictions that have kept us from even the lower intensity interactions could be a serious …

Shifting Priorities Could Open the Door to Greater Reliance on Urgent Care—if You’re Ready

Whether it’s sensible or not, given that it would be generous to call distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine “clunky” up to this point, some large scale testing sites and public health centers are starting to shift their emphasis to immunization. In Florida, for example, the testing site located in a football stadium relocated to a much smaller mall space—with a vaccination operation moving from that mall to the stadium. So where are all the people …

More Ammo in Fighting COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy

As of this writing, more than 57 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been distributed across the United States. Roughly 16 million people have been vaccinated, with many more to follow. Unfortunately, around one-third of Americans don’t plan to be among them, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On the assumption that vaccination providers will come to include more urgent care centers, it’s essential that you have solid information to …

COVID-19 Cases May Be Down, but Kids Are in Danger as MIS-C Lingers

There’s been a lot of promising news regarding the COVID-19 pandemic recently; cases in most areas of the U.S. are trending downward while testing and vaccination programs are (slowly) helping to curb public anxiety about the virus. This is no time for hubris or a false sense of security, however, as an article just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reveals newly identified characteristics of children who become ill with multisystem inflammatory …

As Travel Opens Up, Opportunities to Offer COVID-19 Tests Could Be Lucrative

Urgent care has had it tough during the pandemic, but the travel industry has faced unprecedented challenges as Americans hunkered down to avoid exposure to the COVID-19 virus. To this day, individuals in certain professions (teachers, for example) are barred from returning to work until they’ve quarantined after visiting certain states. Others, however, are facing slightly loosened restrictions, such as being able to travel as long as they can provide a negative test result. American …

Chin Lacerations in Children—A Call for Caution

Urgent message: Adhesive repair for skin lacerations in pediatric patients is a viable (sometimes preferable) option—under the right circumstances. Careful consideration is warranted when the wound is to the chin. Joshua Sherman, MD and David Mathison, MD, MBA INTRODUCTION The use of adhesive repair in lieu of sutures for the management of minor lacerations has become increasingly commonplace.1 When used correctly, cosmetic outcomes are similar and may be superior to suture repair in certain situations. …

Tired of Urgent Care Being Overlooked? UCA Is Making It Easy to Do Something About It

In spite of a decades-long history of providing excellent, economical walk-in care across the country, the urgent care industry has been largely overlooked as a reliable ally in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. First, urgent care centers were left out of the supply chain for testing supplies in the early months of the pandemic. Now it can seem like SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are being distributed to every possible recipient other than urgent care (and badly, at that, …

The Clock Is Ticking for Urgent Care Operators to Move on Obtaining PPP Money

As of this writing, there remains roughly $150 billion available through the Payroll Protection Program. With the March 31 application deadline for first- and second-time prospective borrowers now in sight, however, the window for obtaining support that might help you keep your business afloat is closing. Some of the community banks charged with facilitating loans are targeting niche customers within certain markets—which could work to your advantage—such as businesses with fewer than 20 employees. Obviously, …

Patients May Still Be Presenting with Effects of COVID-19 Six Months After Infection

There seems to be confusion among the public as to how COVID-19 affects infected individuals. While headlines noting that the U.S. recently passed the half-million mark in related deaths are hard to ignore, too many people are under the impression that the virus leads to one of two wildly diverse outcomes: it’s either deadly or “no big deal.” That couldn’t be further from the truth, however, as new data published in JAMA Network Open indicate …

Login to JUCM