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Download the article PDF: The Future Is Being Built Be Part Of It
Over the past several weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to see our industry from several different perspectives. At the Patient Experience Symposium in Boston, Massachusetts, I joined healthcare leaders from across the country to discuss what I call “The Urgent Care Effect,” which is how our industry helped change what consumers expect from healthcare. More recently, I spent time with Urgent Care leaders at the Northeast Urgent Care Association (NERUCA) meeting, and our colleagues in California gathered for California Urgent Care Association’s (CalUCA) annual conference.
Different audiences. Different markets. But I keep coming away with the same conclusion: This is an important moment for Urgent Care.
For years, Urgent Care grew by responding to what consumers wanted: greater access, extended hours, convenience, transparency, and respect for their time. In doing so, we didn’t simply create another healthcare setting. We helped reset expectations for how everyday healthcare should work.
Now the opportunity is bigger. Healthcare is struggling with affordability, primary care access, workforce shortages, and pressure on emergency departments. Employers are looking for better ways to connect their workforce with accessible, affordable care. Health systems and payers are reconsidering where care should be delivered.
Urgent Care belongs in those conversations. But simply believing that isn’t enough. We have to show up. That means demonstrating our value through credible data. It means advancing clinical excellence and quality. It means engaging employers, payers, policymakers, and health systems. And it means coming together as an industry with enough scale and alignment to be heard.
That is why I’m asking every Urgent Care organization to consider its role in what comes next.
Where Urgent Care Comes Together
If you are not currently a UCA member, I hope you will join us. Membership is more than supporting an association. It strengthens the collective voice advocating for your organization and this industry. The more operators and clinicians we represent, the stronger our ability to influence the decisions affecting reimbursement, regulation, workforce, and the future of our care model. Membership also provides direct value to you and your team through industry-leading education, practical resources, networking opportunities, and the expertise needed to navigate a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape.
And as you build your 2027 budgets, I’m asking you to make one more investment: Plan to join us at UCA Convergence 2027 in West Palm Beach, Florida, next May.
We chose the name “Convergence” intentionally. The challenges and opportunities ahead require operators, clinicians, innovators, and healthcare partners to come together around where Urgent Care is going next. Our tagline, “Where Urgent Care Comes Together,” reflects the purpose of UCA Convergence and the role this event plays in our field.
We’ll explore the market forces reshaping Urgent Care, emerging care models, employer and payer relationships, workforce, technology and AI, clinical excellence, and the data and strategies organizations need to compete and grow. But perhaps most importantly, we will bring this community together at UCA Convergence.
I’ve been reminded repeatedly this fall how powerful community can be. Whether in conversations with leaders in Boston, the Northeast, California, or across the country, I see tremendous innovation and commitment to this field.
Our opportunity now is to connect it. The future of Urgent Care will be shaped by those who choose to participate.
Join UCA. Come to UCA Convergence 2027. Bring your experience, your ideas, your team, and your voice.
There is important work ahead. Let’s lead the way together.
Read Past UCA Articles
- Beyond Convenience: Becoming a Healthcare Partner
- Opportunity Is Knocking. We Need to Answer.
- The Next Chapter: From Alternative to Essential
