Practice Management
Urgent care operators who rely on search engine optimization (SEO)—in other words, the art of building a website that Google will punch up to the top of search results for prospective patients—essentially have to guess at what digital tactics will get them into the top spot on Google. For the most part, Google’s algorithms have always been a closely guarded secret. Recently, media outlets like Inc. reported that some proprietary Google search algorithms were leaked. …
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The Food and Drug Administration is considering a recommendation for tailoring the COVID-19 vaccines for the 2024-2025 respiratory virus season to the JN.1 variant, according to Reuters. It’s been the dominant variant this year, and shots may target JN.1’s subvariants as well. The subvariant KP.2 was estimated to account for more than 28% of COVID-19 cases over a 2-week period in mid-May. Not unlike the annual flu vaccine, COVID vaccines are developed months in advance …
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MedWise Urgent Care and the family services agency in Tulsa, Oklahoma, are partnering to provide easier access to mental healthcare services. Patients who walk into a MedWise clinic can connect with a specialist for behavioral health needs. A local crisis call center that provides support to more than 14,000 people a year will extended its services to 12 MedWise Urgent Care centers in the Tulsa area and northeast Oklahoma. In real-time, patients can collaborate with …
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Between 2008 and 2022, the per capita rate of cannabis use increased by 120%, according to research published in Addiction. And now for the first time, the number of Americans who use cannabis almost every day has surpassed the number who drink every day. In 2022, an estimated 17.7 million people reported using cannabis daily or near-daily. By comparison, the median drinker reported drinking alcoholic beverages on 4 to 5 days in the past month …
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Data suggests that many people who use GLP-1 drugs semaglutide and liraglutide to treat obesity and diabetes are not staying on their weight-loss plans as long as what is recommended, according to an issue brief from Blue Health Intelligence. Typically, 12 weeks is the accepted guideline for achieving meaningful weight loss. Yet, an analysis of claims from 170,000 plan members found that about 58% of people using GLP-1 medications were on their treatment plan for …
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Presentations of kidney stones tends to increase during summer when rising temperatures and higher humidity lead to dehydration, according to a news item in USA Today. Climate change might be a big-picture factor in the rising rates of kidney stones, but an individual’s dietary choices are also likely contributing to the increase, according to a source quoted in the news item. A study published a year ago in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases found …
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Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported by ABC News shows a significant rise in whooping cough cases across the United States. This year, 4,864 cases have been reported, nearly triple the 1,746 cases recorded at the same time last year. However, the recent case numbers are comparable to 2018-2019, before the COVID-19 era. In Oregon, the local health authority reported 178 cases as of May 29, marking a 770% increase from …
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week released new clinical guidelines on the use of doxycycline postexposure prophylaxis (doxy PEP) for bacterial sexually transmitted infection prevention. In part, CDC’s recommendations include the use of doxy PEP for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women (TGW) who have had a bacterial sexually transmitted infections diagnosed in the past 12 months as part of provider shared decision-making. …
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The Department of Health and Human Services is monitoring the ongoing fallout from the Change Healthcare cyberattack and has launched a dynamic website that will be updated as information emerges. In addition, Change Healthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group (UHG), is now essentially tasked with sending out the required HIPAA breach notifications to patients and completing related administrative requirements on behalf of any provider that was affected. Federal officials at the Office for Civil Rights ruled …
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Researchers have identified local heat waves as a factor that can lead to an increased risk of preterm birth and stillbirth, according to a cohort study published in JAMA Network Open. Authors found a significant link between periods of high temperatures in some of the top metropolitan statistical areas in the United States and early deliveries. Looking at 53 million births from 1993 to 2017, they concluded that after 4 consecutive days of mean temperatures …
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