Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Antibiotics Week: A Chance to Attract—and Protect—New Patients

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the White House are working together to foster more responsible use of antibiotics in all healthcare settings by promoting Get Smart About Antibiotics Week, November 14–20. The CDC estimates 2 million Americans become infected with an antibiotic-resistant germ every year, meaning illness that could previously have been treated with a standard antibiotic may land your patients in the hospital (or worse; 23,000 patients die every year from …

Your Nondiscrimination Statements Have to Be Posted by October 17

Urgent care operators—and all healthcare providers who receive federal funds (eg, reimbursement under government programs like Medicaid or plans that take part in the Affordable Care Act)—are required by federal law to post nondiscrimination notices in public view by October 17. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil Rights says physicians must take “appropriate initial and continuing steps” to notify patients of certain information/services related to nondiscrimination. HHS has posted …

Vermont Will Try an ‘All-Payer’ System Starting in January

Vermont is going to try following Maryland’s lead by testing an all-payer reimbursement system for healthcare providers in 2017. Where Maryland’s long-held policy covers only hospitals, though, Vermont plans to use an accountable care organization (ACO)-type structure to cover all providers, regardless of setting (including urgent care). All-payer systems require all insurers, whether private, Medicare, or Medicaid, to pay similar rates for services. The goal is to increase the quality of care while decreasing the …

Arizona Urgent Care Center Brings Specialists Onboard

A clinic in Tucson, AZ is trying to take the convenience factor of urgent care to the next level by offering patients access to specialists on site. Urgent Specialists is the first in the state to have board-certified specialists in ophthalmology, orthopedics, and otolaryngology on staff—removing the need to immediately refer patients whose symptoms may be a bit more complicated than is typically seen in the urgent care setting. As with all urgent care centers, …

Millennials Have to Be Convinced Flu Shots Are More Important Than Lattes

More than half of Americans between 18 and 34 years of age say they don’t plan to get a flu shot this year, with cost being a key factor. Of the 2,080 adults surveyed by CityMD Urgent Care surveyed last month, 433 were “millennials”; only 48% of them said they plan to get a flu shot. Those who don’t plan to get one cited disbelief that the vaccination would keep them from getting the flu …

Hospital Network Links Up with Urgent Care Company in Louisiana

LCMC Health, a nonprofit healthcare system that operates hospitals in the New Orleans area, says it’s going to create a network of seven urgent care clinics in the same area starting next spring. Over the course of 18 months, LCMC plans to buy an undetermined number of existing locations and build the rest in new locations. LCMC is working with Baton Rouge-based Premier Health on this project. Premier Health owns 40 urgent care clinics, many …

Survey Says Patients May Be Slow to Understand Virtual Care

A new survey seems to indicate that it may take a long time—or more resources than you might think—for patients to understand their options for virtual care. Two large health systems rolled out their plans to offer virtual care in Iowa more than a year ago, but most residents still don’t get it. That’s bad news for the plans, but it also means the intended goal of offering virtual care in the first place—namely, slowing …

CDC: Men Should Wait 6 Months to Have Unprotected Sex After Possible Zika Exposure

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has again revised its recommendations on how long men who could have been exposed to the Zika virus should wait before trying to conceive, or to have unprotected sex at all. The CDC now says man should wait 6 months—up from 8 weeks—before having sex without a condom even if they have no symptoms. The new guidance is intended to minimize the likelihood of transmitting the virus before …

UCA Partners Up in Fighting Antibiotic Resistance

The Urgent Care Association (UCA) is partnering with George Washington University’s Antibiotic Resistance Action Center on an initiative to put the brakes on runaway antibiotic resistance. The goal of the 3-year plan is to develop and implement evidence-based practices aimed at preserving the effectiveness of the antibiotics we have available today, namely by promoting responsible use of antibiotics. The fact that urgent care centers see some 160 million patients annually make it the perfect setting …

Urgent Care May Become a Likely Destination for Transgender Patients

Estimates of the number of transgender people in the United States range from just 0.3% to 0.6% of the population. Still, that means up to 1.4 million patients across the country may identify as transgendered. Data show they experience a disproportionate rate of health complications, sometimes due to hesitance to seek care for fear of being discriminated against (or even refused treatment in extreme cases). Given this reluctance to establish primary healthcare relationships, urgent care …