Meeting attendees also highlighted the role of private equity in urgent care operations. While private equity investments have contributed to growth of the industry, there are concerns about how this business model might affect patient care. They agreed that any urgent care initiative undertaken by ACEP must prioritize patient safety and quality of care over financial considerations.

Key action items of the Task Force include organizing a list of objectives, assigning volunteers to work on specific areas, and developing a survey to gauge ACEP member interest and participation in urgent care medicine. The Task Force will also engage with the Urgent Care Association of America (UCA) to ensure that all relevant stakeholders are involved in the process.

The Task Force’s goal is to finalize its report by ACEP25 in Salt Lake City in early September.

Urgent Care Task Force Objectives

• Determine the current landscape of urgent care centers, including quantity, locations, volumes, and capabilities, as well as associated physician and non-physician provision of care.
• Make the distinction between urgent care centers, retail clinics, minute clinics, and freestanding EDs.
• Assess the current prevalence of clinical partnerships between emergency medicine and urgent care centers. Make recommendations on a future role in this space, particularly related to collaboration.
• Explore credentialing opportunities for physicians practicing in urgent care centers, including possible ABEM subspecialization, focus practice designation, or board certification.
• Describe the business and financial models of urgent care reimbursement, including the process for when a patient is transferred between an ED and an urgent care center.
• Determine what additional skills might equip and prepare emergency physicians to practice urgent care medicine that are not currently taught in emergency medicine residency.
• Identify resources currently needed by emergency physicians who primarily work in urgent care centers.
• Make recommendations for how to enhance the body of scholarly work related to urgent care practice, and how ACEP might be instrumental in such efforts.
• Generate a list of quality metrics for urgent care centers.

Scan or click to take the survey.

Urgent Care Task Force Survey

Should ACEP Develop an Urgent Care Section? What’s the main outcome you would like to see from the Urgent Care Task Force?