Practice Management
Ardent Health, which operates 30 acute care hospitals in 6 states, last week acquired 18 urgent care clinics from NextCare Urgent Care. NextCare is in the Enhanced Healthcare Partners investment portfolio and up until now included approximately 170 clinic locations, according to a 2024 JUCM analysis. The transaction includes 6 urgent care clinics in New Mexico, which will operate as part of Lovelace Health System, as well as 12 clinics in Oklahoma that will become …
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Urgent Message: As retail pharmacies reinvent themselves, urgent care has an opportunity to grow within the shifting market dynamic. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc, is President of Urgent Care Consultants and Senior Editor of JUCM: The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine. Citation: Ayers AA. Reimagining Retail Pharmacy as Major Chains Downsize Offerings. J Urgent Care Med. 2025 19(4)43-47. Retail pharmacies are at a crossroads. Once the go-to destination for prescriptions and over-the-counter health/beauty merchandise, major …
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Urgent Message: Rib fractures most commonly occur after blunt chest injury. Consider serious associated injuries such as pneumothorax, hemothorax, and pulmonary contusion when assessing patients with suspected rib fractures. Ensuring appropriate analgesia is critical for reducing the risk of complications. Dustin M. Nelson, BS; Shering Torres, MAS, MD; Michael Weinstock, MD Citation: Nelson DM, Torres S, Weinstock M. Urgent Care Considerations for the Patient with Suspected Rib Fracture. J Urgent Care Med. 2025; 19(4): 13-21 …
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A 29-year-old man presents to urgent care on a Saturday with pain in his left foot after playing tennis. A series of x-rays is ordered. Review the images below and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the following page. Differential Diagnosis Diagnosis The correct diagnosis is an avulsion fracture of the base of the 5th metatarsal. The x-ray shows transverse lucency at the base of …
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By comparing 2022 and 2024 hourly compensation data from the Urgent Care Association (UCA) Clinician Compensation Benchmarking Report, data shows that there has been a 15% increase in nurse practitioner (NP) and physician assistant (PA) pay. Meanwhile, there was an average 19% increase in physician (MD and DO) pay.1 In 2024, the median reported hourly base compensation (excluding bonuses and incentives) showed an increase compared to 2022 rates across all clinician types. This rise likely …
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I hope you have had a wonderful holiday season and that your centers are full of patients…but also that you and your colleagues have managed to stay healthy! For the Urgent Care Association (UCA), the College of Urgent Care Medicine (CUCM), the Urgent Care College of Physicians (UCCOP), and the Urgent Care Foundation (UCF), Q1 is Urgent Care Convention ramp-up time, leading toward our favorite time of year when we all get to gather and …
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Hematoma Blocks Effective for Closed Forearm Reduction Take Home Point: Hematoma blocks are an effective method of achieving analgesia to facilitate closed reduction of forearm fractures. Citation: Pitman G, Soeyland T, Popovic G, et al. Hematoma block is the most efficient technique for closed forearm fracture reduction: a retrospective cohort study. Emerg Med J. 2024; 41:595–601 Relevance: Adequate closed reduction of wrist and forearm fractures acutely after injury is important to reduce risk of complications …
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A 16-year-old girl presents to urgent care with complaints of fever, chills, and a diffuse sunburn-like rash that developed over the past day. The patient underwent septoplasty 2 days prior for a deviated septum, and nasal packing was utilized to manage her postoperative bleeding. On examination in urgent care, she was febrile to 104°F (40°C), tachycardic, and hypotensive. Widespread erythematous blanching macules and patches were seen. View the image below and consider what your …
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In a prior editorial, I described the case of Thomas, a young man among the “worried-well,” who presented to urgent care (UC) with anxiety related to an alarm that sounded as a result of a malfunction of a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), which was prescribed despite his lack of a diagnosis of diabetes, out of concern for abnormal blood glucose levels.[1] The underlying issue prompting his visit was not hypoglycemia but what I refer to …
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Phyllis Dobberstein, CPC, CPMA, CPCO, CEMC, CCC The American Medical Association (AMA) added a Telemedicine Services category to the Evaluation and Management (E/M) section of the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code set. Codes are divided up by the technology used and the patient type (ie, new vs. established). These codes are for synchronous, real-time interactive encounters between the provider and the patient. Codes are leveled by medical decision making (MDM) or time, which is similar …
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