Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

Do New Data Reflect Acuity Degradation in Urgent Care?

New data from the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker show that healthcare facilities, in general, are filing for higher-complexity care than in years past—but that urgent care providers buck the trend by filing such claims at a lower rate than their counterparts in the emergency room and traditional physician practices. Looking at claims for outpatient visits between 2004 and 2021 from the Merative MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters database for nonelderly people, researchers determined that providers …

Free JUCM Webinar: Flu and COVID-19 Keep Evolving. Ensure Your Knowledge Base Does, Too

Urgent care providers have been proficient in treating patients with influenza for a very long time. That’s not to say it’s ever been simple, of course, as the formulation for each season’s vaccine is an educated guess that leaves little time to assess how severe the caseload will be. COVID-19, of course, required a very steep learning curve across every practice setting—but, again, urgent care providers proved up to the task. That’s a good thing, …

As Flu Season Dwindles, Another Virus Is on the Rise

The end of February brings us one step closer to the close of flu season, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to get a break from mass numbers of patients presenting to emergency rooms and urgent care with signs of viral infection. This time it’s norovirus, however. According to an article published by Becker’s Hospital Review, there have been 25 outbreaks this year, compared with just 14 during the same period a year ago. In …

Maintain Tight Control Over Patient Data—or Prepare to Pay a Hefty Price

There are countless ethical and legal reasons to ensure confidential patient data remain confidential. When private information becomes available to the general public, cyber terrorists or criminals, or prospective employers the consequences are grave for patients and damaging to the healthcare institution’s reputation. Now we’re getting a good sense of just how severe legal and monetary judgements can be for organizations found to have committed health data privacy violations. The Federal Trade Commission imposed a …

Low Reimbursements Are Pushing Some Urgent Care Operators to Make Tough Decisions

It’s common (and understandable) for urgent care operators and providers to feel undercompensated by payers for the services they provide. The quality of care is excellent, typically, and the cost savings passed along to insurers every time a patient can avoid going to the emergency room is almost incalculable. And yet, those insurers impose policies that make it very difficult for reimbursements to match the presumed value of urgent care. Workplace efficiencies can only go …

When Cyber Terrorists Attack, Fast Action Is Essential to Protect Data and Your Business

Lehigh Valley Health Network is the latest healthcare system to fall prey to Russian ransomware gangs, with the breach of patient records at one of its physician practices in Lackawanna County, PA. According to a report published by The Morning Call, a group called BlackCat gained access to patient radiologic imaging files and threatened to release them publicly unless Lehigh Valley paid an unnamed ransom. They refused and are working with cybersecurity specialists to tighten …

Could the Postpandemic Era Mark the Right Time for Behavioral Health Urgent Care?

With increasing rates of depression and anxiety attributed to life changes over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic coinciding with (or perhaps causing) increased delays in seeing mental health professionals, it seems clear new solutions are needed in the behavioral health setting. With the traditional urgent care model now proven as an alternative to both primary care and the emergency room for most complaints, efforts are afoot to establish a new variety of urgent care …

As Predicted, Wait Times in the ED Are Pushing More Patients to Urgent Care

Just a couple of weeks ago, we reported that various hospital systems and municipal governments around the country were imploring patients to visit urgent care centers instead of hospital emergency rooms whenever it’s appropriate due to soaring wait times in EDs. That recommendation seems to have been adopted, as we’re already seeing local media reports of increased volume in UCCs. WTOC in Bryan County, GA, for one, reports that with area EDs being “overwhelmed with …

Yes, Long COVID Is Still a Thing—but Don’t Let the Symptoms Lead You Astray

With healthcare and mainstream media devoting so much energy to raising awareness of long COVID, it could be easy to write off some of the telltale signs—cognitive difficulties, headaches, pain, dizziness, fatigue, and others—as exactly that and look no further into alternative diagnoses. That could be a costly mistake for a patient’s wellbeing, though, as a new article published by the European Journal of Neurology reveals that some patients with those characteristic symptoms could actually …

As Another COVID-19 Surge Dawns, States with Low Vaccination Rates Seem Most at Risk

While the national rates of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths remain well below the levels we experienced at the height of the pandemic, data tracked by The New York Times indicate that the coming weeks could bring an uptick in new cases nationally. The latest report shows that several states are already seeing an upswing in confirmed cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Cases in Idaho soared 106% over the past 2 weeks, though deaths were down …