The purpose of Advocacy is to support, defend, or champion a specific cause or issue.  Advocacy also allows individuals to bring about change by raising public awareness, increasing support, or influencing policy for a certain issue.  

Advocacy promotes problem solving and participation, influences laws and policies, and educates the greater community. 

Urgent Care needs a strong voice and strategy to ensure our sustainability and long-term success as an essential piece of the healthcare ecosystem. Our Advocacy efforts will influence healthcare policy and systems by raising awareness, mobilizing support, and effecting change.

We have one objective: Improved reimbursement for Urgent Care.

To reach our goal of improved reimbursement for Urgent Care, we are actively working to educate members of Congress, state and local legislators and federal regulatory agencies about Urgent Care issues.

We will do this by:

• Continuing research on Urgent Care’s positive impact on ED overutilization
• Developing a Grassroots Advocacy structure on a national scale
• Raising funds and engage supporters
• Engaging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to create/implement new initiatives to expand Urgent Care
• Investing in a public relations campaign in 2025 

We are pursuing this federal strategy because that’s how we will defend your interests at the national level, and gaining the backing of Congress fosters connections to influence future changes in the private payer sector. As government payers provide more individuals with healthcare coverage, this trend confirms our belief that this groundwork will lead to long-term changes with private payers as well. 

No one we have spoken with at CMS opposes the fact that Urgent Care should receive federal support for its role in directing non-emergencies away from the emergency department. But CMS is overwhelmed, and many others are contending for its attention and resources. Congress can impact which projects CMS carries out, and that is the method we are working on now. We have a bi-partisan letter led by four House representatives, and we’re pursuing additional supporters. We will also prepare a letter in the Senate.  

Non-life-threatening, urgent health concerns should be handled in the appropriate setting of an Urgent Care center, to ease the pressure on EDs and in turn the overall burden on the healthcare system.

In order to continue our lobbying work – which has been quite successful to date! – and ensure the success of our forthcoming national PR campaign, we must raise funds to support these efforts.

Through hosting local activities, meeting with government officials, sharing our national messaging and participating in our fundraising initiatives, you are helping to ensure we reach our goal of higher reimbursement for Urgent Care.

Reach out to our Advocacy Manager Kristin Rastatter at krastatter@urgentcareassociation.org