Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

A Call for Clinicians to Up Their Social Media Game—for the Safety of Their Patients

If you needed any more proof that we as a society—including the urgent care industry—are firmly entrenched in the internet age, here it is: A prestigious academic health system has appointed its first chief medical social media officer. As noted in an article recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Harvard-trained gastroenterologist Austin Chiang, MD is now tasked with helping Jefferson Health/Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals in Philadelphia stay on point with a …

Ammunition to Help Keep Patients Safe from Their Own Deadly Anti-Vax Presumptions

At the midway point of August, designated as Vaccine Awareness Month by the American Academy of Pediatrics, and just weeks before the start of 2019–2020 flu shot efforts, there’s a renewed push to help clinicians deal with patients who are convinced they “know” that vaccines a) are a conspiracy to make drug companies and doctors rich; b) cause patients to get the illness they’re being vaccinated against; and c) probably cause autism in innocent children. …

FDA: Tell Patients to Stop Drinking Miracle Mineral Solution—It’s Basically Bleach

The folks hawking something called Miracle Mineral Solution would have you believe it’s a cure for cancer. Or HIV. Or autism. Unfortunately, a lot of consumers seem to be buying it and using it to their own detriment—so many, in fact, that the Food and Drug Administration felt compelled to issue a strong warning that anyone who is drinking the supposed “miracle” cure should stop immediately or risk severe vomiting, severe diarrhea, life-threatening low blood …

New Anthem App Could Cut Out Live Providers All Together

The last time Anthem made big news relevant to the urgent care community, it was something of a blessing: the insurer announced it was going to deny claims for emergency room visits that wound up being for nonemergent complaints, possibly incentivizing patients to go to urgent care instead. The reception might not be so warm for the company’s latest initiative, though. Anthem says it’s going to launch a new app that will allow its members …

ED Traffic Slows When Cancer Patients Choose Urgent Care for Immediate Concerns

When someone with cancer experiences unexplained pain, nausea, or any number of symptoms that could be alarming given their condition, their first reaction may be to call their oncologist. The problem is, they’re often not available spontaneously. The next logical option, historically, has been the emergency room. We all know that sitting in a crowded waiting room full of sick people for hours is definitely not what the doctor would have ordered, though. As you’ve …

It’s Festival Season—Are You Ready to Treat the Revelers?

As summer winds down, local chambers of commerce are trying to squeeze in end-of-season festivals dedicated to every type of food, music, and ethnic group imaginable. It’s prime time for major national events like the just-concluded Sturgis (SD) Motorcycle Rally, too. In the latter case, area healthcare facilities have learned they need extra staff on hand to treat bikers and onlookers who flood the town ever year; last year, local healthcare facilities saw 610 rally-related …

Want to Know Why Patients Choose (or Don’t Choose) Urgent Care? Read This

The key attributes that have allowed urgent care to flourish are its ability to provide clinically excellent care in a way that is less time-consuming and lower cost than the emergency room, and more readily accessible than traditional office-based practices. That’s what we have to offer. The question is, how well does that match up with the rationale patients use when selecting their site of care? Pretty well, it turns out, if a new study …

UCA Offers Payers Rationale for Higher Reimbursements, Broader Scope for Urgent Care

Urgent care centers offer convenience and quality care that patients need, at a cost that insurers should appreciate (especially when the alternative would be an emergency room bill). You know this, but sometimes it may seem like private and public payers alike don’t have a clue. The Urgent Care Association has put together a rationale to drive these points home in a position statement aptly titled Urgent Care Centers Deserve Fair Reimbursement for the Services …

Call Centers Send a Lot of Children to the ED. Why Not Urgent Care?

Depending on who you ask, telemedicine is either the next step forward in the evolution of patient care—and one that will foster revenue growth in the process—or gimmicky technology that will drive unnecessary prescriptions and end up diluting in-person visits. JUCM News readers have read valid rationale from both perspectives. Either way, though, it’s a growing phenomenon that urgent care patients are noticing, and getting curious about. Some telemedicine calls are handled by call centers. …

Reaching Out to Young Patients in Need of Comfort Benefits Them, the Community—and You

Providing care for children sometimes means doing more than assessing health concerns. Something as simple as a stuffed animal can lessen the pain of a traumatic experience, such as a house fire or a natural disaster, and remind a child that even strangers care and are eager to provide comfort when it’s needed most. It also speaks volumes to their parents, who are likely to be extremely grateful—and to remember who took an extra step …