Petition for an ACEP Section of Membership

I, the undersigned, petition ACEP to establish a section for Urgent Care or members interested in this practice option. 

The Board of Directors has established annual section dues at $40 per section for regular members. Medical students, emergency medicine resident members and individuals in fellowship training programs receive free membership in the Young Physicians Section, may join another section of their choice for free and join additional sections for only $20 each.

I, the undersigned, realize that by filling out this form, I am indicating my intent to become a dues-paying member of the Urgent Care section in addition to my regular ACEP dues.

The ACEP Bylaws require 100 or more College members to petition the Board of Directors to form a section.

Prospective Section Objectives

  • Support the growing role of emergency physicians at urgent care centers in a rapidly changing health care delivery environment
  • Establish the value of Urgent Care Medicine (UCM) as an important component of Emergency Medicine and overall healthcare system
  • Develop and promote a delivery model that provides effective and efficient acute medical care in a non traditional setting
  • Define urgent care medicine and develop practice guidelines to promote quality and patient safety
  • Provide a platform of mentorship to emergency physicians considering careers in urgent care medicine
  • Collaborate with national urgent care medicine organizations and other primary care specialties
  • Develop strategies to overcome challenges facing urgent care medicine
  • Discuss way to streamline and optimize care at urgent care centers
  • Pursue strategies for ensuring fair payment and practice sustainability to ensure patient access to urgent care centers 
 

Subject Area

  Urgent Care Medicine (UCM) is the provision of immediate medical service offering outpatient care for the treatment of acute and chronic illness and injury. The growth and development of Urgent Care Medicine should be of no surprise to anyone. Fueled by frustration over long waits in the emergency room (for non-emergency care), and a reduction in available primary care appointments (often resulting in patients waiting for weeks to see their primary care physician), a new growth spurt for the Urgent Care industry began in the mid-1990s and continues today.
 

Furthering the College

The American College of Emergency Physicians promotes the highest quality of emergency care for patients.  It is important to recognize that a large percentage of  “emergency care” consists of patients with bread and butter urgent care complaints that can present to a hospital or urgent care center.  As urgent care medicine continues to grow there will be higher variance in the quality of care provided creating a need for master of all trade specialists like emergency physicians.  The urgent care section will help ACEP be an advocate for emergency physicians seeking to practice emergency medicine in urgent care centers and in essence increase the quality of care provided at the centers.  In addition, the section will seek to educate the public and patients about urgent care centers comparing and contrasting them to traditional emergency departments and stand-alone ED’s.  
 

Proposed First Year Activities

  • Elect officers
  • Define Urgent Care Medicine
  • Develop practice guidelines
  • Develop section website
  • Plan a national urgent care awareness event
  • Collaborate with Urgent Care Association of America (UCAOA)


Petition Originator:
Rajesh N. Geria, MD, FACEP
  
 
 
 
 
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