Source Article –Urgent Care clinics are pushing pain pills that do little to treat conditions, new study finds

What an unfortunately misleading headline Julia Musto chose for her article… and to even mention UCA in the article is insulting, IMO!  Julia’s article states that a “new” study using data from 22 million Urgent Care visits, 2018 – 2022 found that 299,210 prescriptions for opioids were given to patients. 

That is 1.4% of those 22 million visits…hardly seems like “pushing” to me.   

• Were these visits after hours when primary care is closed?  
• Do these patients have access to any other healthcare settings?  
• Were the prescriptions a small amount to get that person in pain through the weekend until their primary care opened?

Much of the article is related to antibiotic over prescribing which leads me to believe that the headline is for impact.  Below is a snip from the Journal of Urgent Care Medicine 2024 chart survey results listing the top 20 prescriptions, not an opioid to be found.

Check out the complete article using the link above.  I almost hate to give Julia the clicks, but I think you will find it interesting. 

Julia – feel free to reach out to UCA for comment for any future pieces you write on the Urgent Care field.  Happy to help!