Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Settlement Details EHR Moves to Influence Clinicians—Maybe You—to Prescribe Opioids

In weighing whether an opioid prescription was warranted for a given patient, it’s likely that you were guided one way or the other by your electronic health record system. If that system was linked to the $145 million settlement levied against Allscripts-owned Practice Fusion by the Department of Justice, you may have been duped into thinking writing for an opioid was warranted when it might not have been. Given that Practice Fusion describes its offerings …

Real Estate Pros Are Intrigued by Urgent Care–ED ‘Hybrids’—but Are They a Good Idea?

You don’t hear much about urgent care–emergency room “hybrid” locations—unless you happen to be in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Albuquerque, or Indianapolis market, where they’re starting to become more common. Like urgent care, the UCC/ED combo locations (wherein an urgent care center and a freestanding ED are “co-located” on the same property) have gotten the attention of real estate professionals who recognize a perfect pairing between businesses looking for a lease and high-traffic shopping centers. Healthcare …

CDC Offers New Guidance on STDs, Reflecting Higher Incidence and Treatment in the Primary Care Setting

Recognizing both an increase in incidence of sexually transmitted disease and patient preference for where they seek treatment for STDs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a new set of guidelines on the subject. While previous guidelines, such as those put forth by the CDC in 2015, still reflect current thinking on treatment, the new set, dubbed Recommendations for Providing Quality Sexually Transmitted Diseases Clinical Services, 2020, address a general approach to …

Update: Massachusetts Is Amping Up the Rhetoric to Regulate Urgent Care Again

After seemingly taking a month off to celebrate the winter holidays, legislators in Massachusetts are again making noise about imposing regulations and licensure standards on urgent care operators in the Commonwealth. An article published by The Boston Globe, headlined State Seeks to Rein In Largely Unregulated Urgent Care Industry, Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders bemoans “there is no standardized definition or structure” for urgent care and that “in terms of consumer …

Vaccine Education Efforts Are Failing; Will an Increase in Preventable Deaths Follow?

A new Gallup poll reveals that fewer Americans are convinced parents should get their children vaccinated as time goes on, and it appears that lack of education could be a key factor. According to the new study, 84% of 1,025 randomly sampled adults believe it is “extremely or very important” for parents to ensure their children receive recommended vaccinations. In 2001, the last time such data were collected, 94% thought so. One clue as why …

Healthy ED–Urgent Care Referral Relationships Can Save Lives

The story of a young woman who died after leaving the emergency room to get faster care at an urgent care center in Wisconsin recently continues to make headlines. The 25-year-old reported to the ED with chest pains and shortness of breath. She was actually seen in fairly short order; x-rays showed an enlarged heart and she was sent back to the waiting room—where she waited for more than 2 hours. Fed up and nervous …

EDs Are Doling Out Fewer Pain Meds. What Will That Mean for Urgent Care Operators?

The good news is that prescribers in emergency rooms seem to be getting the message that opioid medications have been overprescribed for too long, contributing to widespread addiction and increasing deaths by overdose and suicide. According to data just released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioid prescriptions originating in the ED dropped by nearly one third between 2006–2007 and 2016–2017—reversing a 5-year upward trend. Decreases were highest among visits by younger adults …

UCA Webinar: What Do You Have to Offer—and Is It Enough?

Hiring the best providers is only half the battle when it comes to putting together a clinically excellent team that will appeal to prospective patients in your area. This is especially true if you’re the new kid on the block and don’t have years of experience to tell you what those people need. The type of area you occupy—rural vs urban, seasonal ebbs and flows, a high concentration of elderly residents—determines a lot, as well. …

A Wetter Winter Could Mean a Jump in Seasonal Injuries. Are You Ready?

As far back as October, the National Weather Service was predicting a wetter-than-usual winter this year. With Winter Storm Dean bearing down on the Midwest and a snowy mess expected to hit the East Coast, it looks like they might be right. Some regions have already seen a jump in snow- and ice-related injuries. Genesis Health System in the Quad Cities region of Iowa reported seeing 35 patients across four locations in a single day …

AHA Says Outpatient Visits Are Down—and Urgent Care Is One of the Reasons

For the first time in 35 years, outpatient visits to U.S. hospitals are down—and urgent care is at least partially responsible, according to a new report from the American Hospital Association. The AHA 2020 Hospital Statistics Report, reflecting data from 6,000 hospitals, notes a 1% drop in 2018 compared with 2017, led by reduction in emergency room visits. AHA attributes the historic reduction to patients choosing more convenient and less expensive options, including urgent care …