Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Will Placing Urgent Care Centers in Big Malls Mean Big Revenue?

Retail drugstore clinics have been knocked for offering such limited services, at least compared with urgent care centers. On the other hand, the wisdom of giving patients even easier access to healthcare services in a setting they’re visiting anyway is undeniable. So, some major healthcare organizations are making commitments to offer higher-acuity services in large shopping malls. First, M Health Fairview opened a walk-in clinic at Mall of America in Minnesota—the first such facility in …

CDC Ponies Up $1.8 Million for an Urgent Care-Based Antibiotic Initiative

Intermountain Healthcare and University of Utah Health have received a $1.8 million contract from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct an antibiotic stewardship program in their urgent care centers. Around 700,000 patients visit Intermountain urgent care centers annually, with the number continuing to climb every year. The first step in the initiative will be trying to refine how patients view prescriptions themselves. For example, more patients who come in expecting to get …

Free JUCM Webinar: 20 Questions—What You Can’t Afford to Miss in a Chest X-Ray

The consequences of missing something on a chest x-ray can be deadly. And yet, if you don’t review them frequently it can be difficult to pick up on subtle findings. JUCM is hosting a free webinar that will provide examples of easy-to-miss presentations that you can’t afford to miss on Tuesday, December 10, from 2 to 3 pm (Eastern). In Chest X-Rays—What the Urgent Care Clinician Needs to Know, Drs. David Cohen and Michael Weinstock …

It’s Time to Offer Greater Flu Protection—for the Good of Your Community and Your Business

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says influenza season is off to its earliest start in 10 years. By mid-November 30 states had confirmed cases. These facts have been detailed on local and national TV news programs and in major newspapers and online news sources. And yet, many people who intend to get vaccinated haven’t done so. Your urgent care providers could be the catalysts for getting them to take that step, possibly saving …

Happy Thanksgiving! Now Please Pass the Salmonella

Joyous (or even politically charged) family get-togethers are a holiday tradition for most Americans. Some holidays are also occasions for more inherent risk than others, however, with Thanksgiving near the top of the list of the most potentially dangerous. Whether it’s Uncle Ned trying out his new electric carving knife after one too many cocktails or an undercooked turkey carrying Salmonella—something the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns about annually—people in your community are …

Are You Doing Enough to Protect Your Clinicians? The Data Suggest ‘Probably Not’

Envision four actual nurses who work in your urgent care operation. You probably picture them smiling, or engaged in their jobs and providing care to patients. Now picture one of them being physically or verbally assaulted in the workplace—YOUR workplace. New data from the American Nurses Association suggest that’s a very real, and quantified, likelihood; workplace violence is so common that one out of four nurses acknowledges they’ve been the victim of assault of one …

CDC Takes Another Stab at EVALI Guidance as Flu Season Picks Up

In consideration of mounting cases of influenza—and the respiratory concerns they bring with them—the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its guidelines on diagnosing and treating patients with signs of e-cigarette or vaping lung injury (EVALI). Urgent care providers, and all healthcare professionals, are urged to ask patients with symptoms of respiratory or gastrointestinal illness (or symptoms such as fever, chills, or weight loss) if they use, and how often they use, e-cigarettes …

UCA Webinar: Can Your Business Survive if You’re Not Operationally Excellent?

“Excellence” is an overused, sometimes poorly understood concept. Yet, patients will let you know in no uncertain terms when you fail to provide service that measures up to that standard. The Urgent Care Association hopes to address that challenge in a two-part webinar, The Operationally Excellent Organization—Best Practices in the Industry, on December 3 at noon and December 10 at 1 pm (both times Central). The speaker for both parts will be Mark Reddinger, COO …

After Announcing Clinic Closings, Walgreens Forges Ahead with Primary Care Partnership

Just a couple of weeks ago, we told you that Walgreens had announced it would close nearly half of its in-store clinics in the face of withering competition. That move has nothing to do with their long-in-the-works plan to open physician-staffed primary clinics in partnership with VillageMD, however; the company just revealed that it has opened the first of five such locations in Houston. They expect the rest to open next month and in January …

‘Tis the Season of Giving—and of Getting to Know New Prospective Patients

The holiday season brings out not only the average person’s generous side, but also more social activity, celebratory dinners, and travel to areas where they probably don’t have access to their usual healthcare facilities. So, getting your name out there at this time of year can reap untold benefits. One good way is to join with your community to help the less fortunate among us. Integrated Medical Alliance (IMA) Urgent Care and Primary Care in …