Certified & Accredited
Urgent Care

Accredited Urgent Care Centers FAQs

• Are all urgent care centers certified or accredited?

  No. There are an estimated 12,000 urgent care centers in the United States. Of that total, only about 2,500 of them have been certified or accredited by a certifying organization such as the Urgent Care Association (UCA) or National Urgent Care Center Accreditation (NUCCA).

• Why should patients care about certification and accreditation?

  When you see the UCA Accreditation logo it means you can rely on the care and services being delivered, as these centers have received dual Certification and Accreditation through the Urgent Care Association, an industry authority for ensuring the safe delivery of high-quality, patient-centered care. UCA Certification covers the scope of services, so centers earning this designation have met nationally standardized criteria that can include accepting walk-ins, being open 7 days a week, having onsite X-ray and labs, among other requirements.

• What is the Urgent Care Association (UCA)?

  Urgent Care Association (UCA) is recognized as the largest, most notable trade and professional association in urgent care with more than 3,300 member centers representing urgent care clinical and business professionals from the United States and abroad.

• What does it mean for a clinic to be Certified by the UCA?

  UCA Certification identifies the specific scope of services offered. Centers earning this designation have met nationally standardized criteria that include accepting walk-ins, open 7 days a week, having onsite X-ray and labs, among other requirements.

• What does it mean for a clinic to be Accredited by the UCA?

  Urgent care accreditation includes the scope of service requirements covered by Certification, as well as additional standards of patient safety and quality. An onsite survey is conducted, where safety and quality measures are reviewed such as patient care processes, physical resources, patient privacy, in addition to the center's scope of care.

• Are there other organizations that certify and/or accredit urgent care centers?

  While the Urgent Care Association (UCA) is the most prominent accrediting organization for the urgent care industry, there are at least two others of significance: National Urgent Care Center Accreditation (NUCCA) and The Joint Commission (JCAHO). The Joint Commission accredits and certifies over 22,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States with urgent care being one of their industry subsets. NUCCA, like the UCA, focuses exclusively on the urgent care industry.