Practice Management
An analysis by the Washington Post and Kaiser Health News examined the recent trend of hospitals launching combined urgent care (UC) centers and emergency departments (EDs). One of the benefits of the hybrid centers is that patients don’t have to self-triage and decide on their own which level of care they need. As it turns out, in the real world of these hybrid centers, many patients can be treated appropriately at the UC level. For …
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A study conducted at 2 pediatric academic healthcare systems resulted in data showing that 75% of antibiotic prescriptions for children with acute otitis media (AOM) were written for durations longer than recommended. As presented in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, the researchers focused on 5-day antibiotic prescriptions as the primary outcome and compared them to 7-day and 10-day prescriptions. They also examined treatment failure, recurrence of AOM, hospitalization, and adverse drug events. …
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In a new study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, data showed that antibiotic prescriptions for respiratory tract infections (RTIs) were significantly more common in virtual urgent care (UC) settings vs in-person UC settings. Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic found that 58% of RTI virtual visits resulted in an antibiotic prescription, while only 43% of in-person visits did. Data included 19,003 visits to virtual UC and 69,189 visits to in-person UC from 2018 through 2022. COVID-19 …
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Optum is closing several urgent care and primary care clinics in multiple states, according to a report in Becker’s. More than 500 clinical and administrative employees will be laid off in California alone, hard on the heels of other recent staff impacts at locations in Colorado and Florida. Parent company UnitedHealth Group attributes the changes to the evolving needs of the business. The report notes that Optum and its subsidiaries had multiple waves of staff …
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A study of 1,061 hospitals recently published in JAMA Network Open offers a classification of 4 levels of pediatric clinical capability, based on the parameters of the services provided by the hospitals. The hope is that outcomes and care delivery can be compared in a way that is more of an “apples-to-apples” approach using the 4 pediatric hospital capability levels developed by the authors. For urgent care centers, such classifications could be handy for triaging …
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Urgent Care for Kids in Houston, Texas, this week announced the acquisition of 11 Pediatrix Medical Group Primary + Urgent Care clinics, formerly operating under the NightLight Pediatrics Urgent Care brand. Since its establishment in 2011, Urgent Care for Kids has offered traditional urgent care as well as telehealth services, and with the acquisition, brings its total number of clinic locations to 23. Portfolio peek: Urgent Care for Kids is a subsidiary of Goodside Health, …
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A newly minted law in Maryland requires hospitals and urgent care centers to develop evidence-based protocols and education for the early recognition and treatment of sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock. And there’s a sense of urgency to develop new programs quickly because the clinical enhancements must be implemented on or before January 1, 2025. The policy is also known as “Lochlin’s Law,” named after a child who died of sepsis after a case of …
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In Texas, nurse practitioners (NPs) are advocating for legislation that would allow them to practice independently without physician oversight. Texas is 1 of just 11 states that require such supervision. Although the policy proposal still has a long way to go, medical professionals are using the interim to chime in on the pros and cons—including the enhanced capabilities with physician-led care as well as the costs of physician engagement, which could start at $50,000 a …
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Cases of COVID-19 have surged in emergency departments (EDs) over recent weeks, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and surges are now demonstrating upward slopes that could lead to peaks similar to what communities might expect in the cooler months of fall. The weekly average of ED patients with COVID-19 has reached 1.18% in the United States overall but 2.9% in Florida, making the “sunshine state” a leader …
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A new study in Emerging Infections Diseases describes 5 children who had Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) and manifested clinical symptoms similar to multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) in Mexico. Although the number of cases was small, it may be an important differential because Rocky Mountain spotted fever can progress rapidly to death or severe illness if appropriate antimicrobial drug therapy is not delivered within the first 5 days after illness onset. Among the 5 cases, …
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