The absolute need for Board Certification in the field of Urgent Care Medicine is increasing rapidly. Board certification demonstrates a physician’s exceptional expertise in a particular specialty of medical practice. Board certification in Urgent Care Medicine signals a physician’s commitment and expertise in consistently achieving superior clinical outcomes in a responsive, patient-focused setting. Patients, fellow physicians, healthcare providers, insurers and quality organizations look for to Board Certification as the best measure of a physician’s knowledge, experience and skills to provide quality healthcare within their specialty. As patients and insurers are increasingly finding that Urgent Care Medicine is a viable and economical option versus care in the emergency department, so will the need for physician certification in this specialty.

In 2003 the American Academy of Urgent Care Medicine (AAUCM) was admitted into the Specialty and Service Society (SSS) of the American Medical Association (AMA). The Specialty and Service Society (SSS) is the largest caucus in the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates (HOD). For more information about the Specialty and Service Society of the AMA, please click here. In addition, in cooperation with the AMA, the AAUCM was successful in having Urgent Care Medicine, (UCM) established as a Self-Designated/Practice Specialty (SDPS) code. To change your SDPS to UCM, please download a Change Form from the Document Center.

The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) is an umbrella organization that currently has 24 member Boards representing 25 specialties. According to our latest data, there are approximately 150 non-ABMS affiliated Boards. These Boards are not unified by an umbrella organization such as the ABMS. There are a number of non-ABMS Boards that provide a valid specialty certification process. The American Board of Urgent Care Medicine (ABUCM) is a non-ABMS Board that from its inception has emulated ABMS-member Boards. The ABUCM follows rigorous standards for determining Board Certification, scrutinizing each applicant’s training, licensure, practice experience, and actual medical care. The certification process culminates in a written examination, which has been psychometrically validated. It is both medically and legally defensible.

Many third party payers are now cognizant of the vital role the ABUCM physicians play in our healthcare system. The ABUCM is interfacing with insurance company providers to enlighten them on the benefits of Board Certification in Urgent Care Medicine, and many organizations and facilities have requested verification of the Board Certification in Urgent Care Medicine of our Diplomates. For a complete list of all verification requests, go to For Professionals, Board Certification, Certification Verification.

Insurance carries both globally and locally have not yet made a universal decision. In many local markets the carrier will accept Board Certification in Urgent Care Medicine, depending on the concentration and penetration of their market. When communicating with any carrier, we encourage our Diplomates to communicate to the carrier that the ABUCM is the only organization in the U.S. functioning to certify properly qualified candidates in the specialty of Urgent Care Medicine, and therefore are the leading experts in this field. If the carrier has different rates/levels of reimbursements for Primary Care, ED Care and Urgent Care, then they too recognize that there is a distinction in the level of care that is provided and the physicians who render such care.

At this time to AAUCM does not have a designated residency in Urgent Care Medicine. We are looking to develop such a program and are seeking a university to host a residency program for urgent care.

Yes, the AAUCM has a template Policies & Procedures manual available for purchase. The price is $200. To purchase the manual, please contact the AAUCM at 407-521-5789.

RNs: 6%
PAs/NPs: 32%
LPNs: 4%
MAs: 96%

The AAUCM has noted a trend that hospital entities are changing their staffing models from employment of RNs & LPNs to the utilization of MAs, RTs and EMTs who are all crossed trained (for cost-reduction purposes).

The average income for Urgent Care PAs/NPs is $55/hour.

New patient visits used to be easy to distinguish from those with established patients. A new patient was someone you had not previously seen or perhaps someone for whom you did not have a current medical record. Today, like so many other aspects of health care delivery, differentiating between new and established patients and coding your services accordingly has become more complex. By CPT definition, a new patient is "one who has not received any professional services from the physician, or another physician of the same specialty who belongs to the same group practice, within the past three years." By contrast, an established patient has received professional services from the physician or another physician in the same group and the same specialty within the prior three years.

The average is 2-5%; it all depends on the size of the billing company, the type of ARs reporting produced, and if the company will be scrubbing the charts for optimal billing.

Unfortunately, there are no formal training programs in Urgent Care for Nurse Practitioners at this time. Most get their experience from working in the ED. An alternative option is to spend some time at an Urgent Care center shadowing someone for a few weeks to get a sense of the skill sets required. As a member benefit, the AAUCM can assist in finding a center for NPs to shadow someone.

A quarterly medical chart review for each provider conducted by the Medical Director can be used to measure quality in an Urgent Care center. To download a Provider Audit Chart Review Form, Click here

Yes, as insurance companies continue to narrow the margins of profitability and patients expectations of convenience and cost, self -dispensing is becoming more of the norm, with the exceptions of states that do not permit dispensing. A full list of dispensing regulations by state is available at http://aaucm.org/Professionals/MedicalClinicalNews/DispensingRegulations/default.aspx.