Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Payroll Tax Deferral Could Land Hard on Urgent Care Employers

President Trump’s mandate to offer a deferral on payroll taxes may be intended to provide relief for employers and workers that are struggling financially due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it could wind up having a detrimental effect on those same entities in the end. Those who accept the offer (which is not an offer at all, but a requirement when it comes to government employees who make less than $104,000 a year) could opt …

Is COVID-19 Opening the Door to Increased Antibiotic Resistance?

Even though COVID-19 is a viral illness, some infectious disease experts are concerned about its possible effects on antibiotic resistance. It’s not that clinicians are inappropriately prescribing antibiotics for coronavirus-infected patients, but the fact that so many patients wind up with bacterial infections as a result—including those that become infected in the hospital. The Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease notes that the pandemic “has reinforced the critical importance of treatments for infectious disease, as many …

With No Respite Between COVID-19 and Influenza, It’s Time to Start Banging the Flu Shot (and Testing) Drum

When COVID-19 first became a widespread concern in the U.S., it wasn’t unusual to hear consoling murmurs along the lines of “Well, at least it’s not flu season.” Unfortunately, the persistent nature of the pandemic has reduced that to wishful thinking for a quick resolution. The term “twindemic” is now being bandied about. The one piece of good news is that the Food and Drug Administration has issued an Emergency Use Authorization for a combination …

Get Ready—Schools Are Open, and the Data Indicate that Could Cause COVID-19 to Spike

While it’s not always reliable to look at the inverse of scientific data, there are times when considering their deeper meaning can be illuminating. Take data just published by JAMA Network, illustrating that vacating school buildings across the U.S. in response to the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a significant decline in not just incidence of COVID-19 (which fell by 62% per week over the study period) but also mortality (which dropped 58% per week)—all …

A Surprise Finding in a Study of Telemedicine and Children

One of the fears about use of telemedicine in urgent care is that providers might be inclined to overprescribe antibiotics, thereby stoking the already-dangerous trend of antimicrobial resistance. However, a new study conducted at Children’s National Hospital and published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine suggests that telehealth could actually help improve antibiotic stewardship. The study reflected 55,000 visits to a single hospital in 2018. Researchers tracked prescribing for bronchitis, sinusitis, pharyngitis, and upper …

Years After Being Accused, an Admission of Guilt—and a $12.5 Million Fine

One U.S.-based urgent care operator is paying a heavy price after pleading guilty to healthcare fraud and engaging in monetary transactions derived from unlawful activity. The company, which was first accused of inflating reimbursement rates by ordering unnecessary tests and systematically exaggerating the complexity of procedures several years ago, has now copped to the charges and has to pay a $12.5 million fine. That’s the amount the prosecution says equates to the bogus charges between …

Are You Prepared to Defend Yourself in Court? This Mock Trial Might Help You Figure It Out

You did everything you could to provide excellent, timely, ethical care for that patient with chest pain—to no avail. Now you’re being sued. Are you ready to defend yourself and your practice in court, with the entire enterprise riding on the outcome? JUCM Senior Clinical Editor Michael Weinstock, MD will preside over a virtual mock trial during the third annual Adena Thought Leaders Summit (ATLS) on Wednesday, September 9 from 10 am to 12:20 pm, Eastern. …

Can Urgent Care Be the Solution to Reduce COVID-19 Spread in High-Risk Environments?

The risks of heading off to work on site during the COVID-19 pandemic vary greatly according to the nature of the workplace. Healthcare workers know this all too well. As people start traveling more, though, airports are likely to be another high-risk environment. Dignity Health–GoHealth is addressing that risk by placing a testing center at San Francisco International Airport. They began a little over a month by testing airline flight crews and have now opened …

Alert: Deadline for Second Distribution of Provider Relief Fund is Coming Fast

Urgent care operators have an opportunity to secure more funding to fight the detrimental economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by way of the second round of distribution under the Provider Relief Fund. Note that this is separate from the Paycheck Protection Program. Rather, the PRF is intended to support “families, workers, and the heroic healthcare providers in the battle against the COVID-19 outbreak.” Providers who see Medicare patients should have received funds under the …

Alert: Patients with Less Severe COVID-19 Symptoms May Be a Significant Threat

Recently, we shared new data published in the Journal of Pediatrics indicating that nonsympomatic children are more than capable of infecting others with COVID-19. It turns out the same may be true in adults. A study published in The American Journal of Pathology reveals that nonhospitalized adults with less-severe symptoms of COVID-19 can actually have a higher SARS-CoV-2 viral load than hospitalized patients with more severe symptoms. The study population included 205 patients treated at a tertiary care …