Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Optum Set to Close Down Virtual Care

On a recent conference call, Optum notified some employees that its virtual care division will cease operations in July, according to Becker’s Health IT. Optum Virtual Care launched in 2021 and covers all 50 states. At UnitedHealth’s investor conference in November, Optum’s CEO implied that virtual care is a crowded market, and more recently, employees on social media have reported a significant workforce reduction at Optum, ranging from nurse case managers to senior director and …

Nurses Protest Use of Artificial Intelligence

Hundreds of nurses in San Francisco voiced their objections to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare during a recent protest, according to Becker’s Hospital Review. For example, some criticized an AI feature within the Epic EHR that determines nurse staffing based on real-time charting. They argued that this method may not accurately or fairly account for their work. Additionally, some nurses raised objections to AI chatbots that interact with patients, which could create …

Challenges Predicted For FTC Noncompete Ban

Last week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a final rule that would ban nearly all noncompete agreements among for-profit employers and a small subset of nonprofits as well. In healthcare, it represents a significant shift in employment and contractual agreements, allowing clinicians to switch jobs and work for rival providers without limitations. Rules are set to take effect in 4 months. The American Medical Association estimates as many as 45% of physicians work under …

Providers Still Not Back to Normal After Change Cyberattack

Two months after the Change Healthcare cyberattack upended payments to a large percentage of the nation’s healthcare providers, organizations say they’re still suffering from the fallout, both financially and logistically, according to Kaiser Health News. Change parent company UnitedHealth Group indicated during a shareholder call on Tuesday, however, that business is largely back to normal, and its chief financial officer said that the company expects full operations to resume next year. The hacking has cost …

Thousands of Kids Getting Into Melatonin Gummies Present to ED

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported that 11,000 children and infants presented to emergency departments between 2019 and 2022 after ingesting melatonin. More concerning is that flavored gummy products—which look like candy—were involved in nearly 5,000 of those cases. More than half of accidental ingestions involved children between 3 and 5 years old, according to CDC. Melatonin products do not require child-resistant packaging, but the agency found about three-quarters of the …

Private Equity Bracing For Healthcare Bankruptcies

Private equity firms were responsible for a significant number of healthcare sector bankruptcies last year, and another round of bankruptcies is anticipated in 2024. Nearly all of the financially strained healthcare companies in the United States are under private equity ownership, according to a report from the nonprofit Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP), which analyzes the impact of private equity ownership across multiple industries. PESP reported that last year, private equity-backed companies accounted for at …

UCA and CUCM Elect New Board Members

As a key moment in the Urgent Care Association (UCA) Convention in Las Vegas last week, members elected a new board, led by Board President Scott Prysi, MD. The full list of board members is available on the UCA website. Additionally, the College of Urgent Care Medicine (CUCM) elected its new board members: Lindsey Fish, MD (also JUCM images editor); Roger Hicks, MD, FCUCM; Joshua Russell, MD, MSc, FACEP, FCUCM (also JUCM editor in chief); …

Alert Issued For Antibiotic-Resistant Campylobacter Infections

Clinicians should be on alert for cases of antibiotic-resistant Campylobacter infection in men who have sex with men (MSM), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) warned in an information note on its website. In February, PAHO identified an outbreak of drug-resistant Campylobacter in 13 MSM in Minnesota and several previous outbreaks in the United States and Canada that date back to 1999. Patients may be presenting with diarrhea with dysentery features, the organization says. Here’s …

Union Clinicians Strike Over Staffing Issues at Detroit ED

Workers went on an anticipated strike last week over ongoing dissatisfaction related to insufficient staffing and long wait times for patients in the emergency department (ED) at Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit. On April 18, union physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners walked out after their good-faith negotiations failed to result in an agreement, according to local news reports. The clinicians had formed the union less than a year ago to advocate for improved …

Antibiotics Don’t Reduce Cough for UC Patients With LRTI

Researchers studying 718 patients at primary care and urgent care sites found that antibiotics didn’t provide any benefit for patients with a cough caused by an acute lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI), as published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Evidence shows that antibiotic prescriptions actually were associated with a small increase in the duration of cough when patients receiving antibiotics were compared to those without. Time until resolution was the same whether the …