Journal of Urgent Care Medicine

As the Rural Hospital Market Shrinks, Urgent Care Could Be the Only Hope for Quality Healthcare

Rural hospitals, by their very nature, tend to be remote outposts that serve widespread communities with few other options for immediate care. When one closes, it’s a problem—and since 2005, that problem keeps growing in severity. The market has shrunk by 183 facilities nationwide in that time span, according to a new article published by Becker’s Hospital CFO Report. Texas alone lost 23. Tennessee has 15 fewer. That’s a lot of families who can no …

Flu Season Is Living Up to the Hype. Is Your Team Ready for a Long Slog?

Every year, there are some parties decrying that flu season is going to be devastating; usually the dire predictions don’t come to fruition. This year that’s not the case, however, and the recent holiday weekend helped compound an already serious influenza season. As noted in an article published by Medpage Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says flu-related hospitalizations have nearly doubled since Thanksgiving, to the point that they’re higher than they’ve been …

Packed Waiting Rooms May Require Creative Solutions

With alarming, simultaneous increases in cases of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus and the future of COVID-19 cases unclear, we can expect heavy patient volumes in urgent care centers over the coming months. While urgent care is known for its efficient way of providing excellent care, systems in place to keep patient flow on point will be put to the test. Some urgent care centers are already altering their norms in response. UnityPoint Health in …

Orthopedic ‘Urgent Care’ May Be Poised for a Growth Spurt. Here’s What It Means to You

Specialty urgent care centers have proved to be challenging from a business standpoint, traditionally. Few (if any) orthopedic urgent care operations have been able to survive unless they were attached to a hospital system or larger, traditional orthopedic practice. Those, however, may be on the cusp of a growth—and that could make for some competition with the mainstream urgent care marketplace. As noted in a report from KSL TV, for example, Intermountain Healthcare’s Southwest Urgent …

If You’re Vexed by the Shortage of X-Ray Techs, You May Need to Get Creative

Physicians aren’t the only healthcare professionals in short supply across the United States. Urgent care centers have been wrestling with a dearth of x-ray technicians for some time now. Given that the ability to offer x-ray services is a distinguishing characteristic that sets urgent care apart from some other walk-in settings, this is a fairly significant problem. Some urgent care centers have had to come up with innovative solutions in order to keep patients satisfied. …

Could Opioid Use Disorder Be the Rare Condition Where Telemedicine Works for Urgent Care?

Many urgent care operators have tried to introduce telemedicine services as a way to help patients get care when there’s simply no other way. While it did just that for a lot of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, few have found a way to make it work on an ongoing basis. That doesn’t mean there couldn’t be instances in which virtual care is a valid and useful option, however. One of those might include treatment …

Workplace Violence Is So Bad CMS Had to Remind Hospitals They Need to Protect Patients and Staff

JUCM News has reported on individual incidents of assaults on healthcare workers and patients periodically. Unfortunately, such events happen so often that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services felt it necessary to issue a memorandum reminding hospital employers that they’re obligated to have measures in place to protect staff and patients from on-site violence. The background data may be surprising. Citing a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, CMS noted that 73% of …

As If RSV, COVID, and Flu Aren’t Enough, Another Viral Threat Is Emerging

We’ve told you about the very real threat of a tripledemic as the current influenza season progresses, new variants of COVID-19 continue to evolve, and record cases of respiratory syncytial virus occur in various states. Ohio is now wrestling with an additional—and surprising—viral entity. As of this writing, at least 46 cases of measles have been confirmed in children in the Columbus area, according to the city’s health department. There have been no fatalities, but …

The Threat of a Tripledemic Is Getting More Real—and Urgent Care Is on the Front Lines

In an average year, 35 states reporting “high” or “very high” levels of influenza would be concerning. In the 2022–23 flu season, with record levels of respiratory syncytial virus and new variants COVID-19 continuing to emerge, it’s downright alarming. That’s where we are, though, according to the latest Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The situation is so dire in the Pacific Northwest that KOIN News invoked the …

When Communicating with Patients, Tone Matters—and the Wrong One Can Cost You

Whether it’s declining to prescribe an antibiotic you know isn’t necessary to a patient who insists that it is or working through a billing issue, conflicts with patients are going to arise in your urgent care center. And when they do, how the matter is handled can make the difference between having a respectful disagreement and getting blasted online (or worse). An extreme example is playing out across mainstream and social media right now, as …