Freestanding emergency centers (FECs) could transform emergency healthcare services in the United States. Due to overcrowded waiting rooms, long wait times, inefficient processes and below-average customer service, emergency room visits are often unpleasant; however, with the use of FECs, that can change. State officials should consider this private-sector alternative to help resolve some of these widespread hospital emergency room inefficiencies.

HOUSTON – April 20, 2016 – XtreMed, a turnkey medical imaging provider, today announced a new financial relationship with Texas-based Independent Bank to expand its share in the freestanding emergency room market.

By David G. Hampton

Trend setting Freestanding Emergency Centers have the opportunity to turn what is commonly thought of as an expense into a growth asset.

Established in early 2008, Republic E.M.S. has become one of the most reliable, fastest growing, and highly sought after private ambulance services in Texas. We pride ourselves in being a premier ground ambulance service solely dedicated to catering to the needs of freestanding emergency centers throughout Texas and abroad.

Focusing on integrity and outstanding performance, each of our units are MICU-ready, equipped with state of the art diagnostic tools and highly-trained medics.

After spending four years fulfilling my commitment to the Navy on the island of Guam, it was time to head back to the states. I heard good things about the physician climate in Texas, so I started my job search here when I returned. I ended up taking a job in Abilene at an extremely busy and understaffed trauma center.

Thank you to each TAFEC member who attended our most recent Membership Meeting, which took place on Wednesday, March 2, 2016 at the Hyatt Regency in Austin, Texas. Before kicking off the meeting, attendees enjoyed lunch on the Zilker Terrace at the hotel.

Topics covered during the TAFEC Membership Meeting included the following:

As an emergency doctor, your investment in the growth of FECs enabled you to escape the hospital emergency room’s bureaucratic red tape regime so you could freely practice your passion and take control of your career. The new-found freedom allowed you to perfect your profession while your patients benefit from your specialty.

At XtreMed, your RADIOLOGY NEEDS are our EMERGENCY and a turn-key project, free of headaches, is our specialty.

I've been involved in Emergency Medicine since my 9-1-1 dispatcher days at Texas A&M. After residency I moved to Beaumont to work and helped start an independent ER physicians group in 2007. As a small group owner in Beaumont, I am always looking for growth avenues, but hospital options are somewhat limited.

Laboratory Consulting & Services

LabCheck is a full-service laboratory consultancy firm. We are a team of expert laboratory consultants bringing together over 30 years of clinical and research laboratory bench work, operations, management, and consultation, and over 7 years of direct laboratory work and consultation for and with Freestanding Emergency Centers (FEC).

Intermedix is an organization that at its core exists to serve those who save lives. We first and foremost aim to optimize our partners’ operations and maximize their financial success so they can focus on delivering the highest quality of care.

Doctors Luis Chapa, Edward Wright, and Erasmo Adrian Reyes trained and completed their Emergency Medicine residency together at the Texas A&M Health Science Center Christus Spohn Emergency Medicine Residency program. After completing their training, these three physicians moved to the San Antonio area in 2010-2011 and began working side-by-side as staff physicians in several of the health systems throughout the city.

On Thursday, Nov. 12, Dr. Brent Wyatt, Medical Director of Complete Care’s Brooks City Base facility, helped to save a man who went into cardiac arrest on a flight from Orlando to San Antonio.

Dr. Wyatt and several other medical professionals were on the plane, returning home from a medical convention. An older man was late to the plane and rushed to board at the last minute, finding his seat a few rows behind Dr. Wyatt. Shortly thereafter, as the plane was taxiing to the runway for takeoff, the man slumped forward in his seat and was unresponsive.

John B. Hamilton, MD, FACEP Premier ER Plus, Waco, Texas

Dr. John Hamilton completed his emergency medicine residency at Loma Linda University Medical Center and is board-certified in emergency medicine.

The Texas Association of Freestanding Emergency Centers (TAFEC) has launched a familiarization tour campaign to educate communities across the state. A familiarization tour is a visit inside an operational freestanding emergency center (FEC) to highlight the services provided at these facilities. The FEC industry is expanding rapidly across the state and our goal is to raise awareness about what freestanding emergency centers are, and how they can benefit the communities in which they operate.

Because the industry is so new, there exists confusion and misconceptions about freestanding emergency centers with the general public – most notably the way they differ from other emergency care options. We are focusing our efforts to educate communities across the state of Texas so citizens have a better understanding of the quality of care provided at FEC facilities and feel empowered to make the best decision regarding their emergency care.

Dr. David Mendelson is a residency-trained, board-certified emergency physician who followed his medical training with the completion of an administrative fellowship. During 22 years of practice, he has been very involved with the administrative side of medicine in an effort to make practices better for the physicians, nurses, and APPs he works with. His most recent responsibilities comprised the management of 30 hospital-based practices including emergency medicine, anesthesiology, pediatrics, and inpatient services. These practices ranged from urban tertiary care hospitals to freestanding emergency centers. His team has been able to improve flow, efficiency, and patient satisfaction in the practices he managed.

PATHFAST is a small benchtop cardiac marker analyzer with industry-leading precision designed for ED and stat labs. With the flexibility to run whole blood or plasma samples, PATHFAST allows for up to six simultaneous tests in less than 17 minutes. The test menu includes Troponin, CK-MB, NTproBNP, D-Dimer, hsCRP, and Myoglobin, and test results are unaffected by hemolysis^†. PATHFAST provides quick and accurate results – helping clinicians diagnose patients more effectively and efficiently.

We are RedAway, a Texas owned and operated, full-service medical waste company, and a proud TAFEC sponsor. RedAway was formed to offer the market something new and professional, without any strings attached.

AUSTIN, TX (October 21, 2015) – The National Association of Freestanding Emergency Centers (NAFEC) will hold its inaugural membership meeting in Boston, MA on October 27, 2015. This meeting will provide an opportunity to bring all freestanding emergency center owners, operators, and interested parties together as this emerging industry gains momentum across the country.

Everything is a little different in West Texas – from the way we talk to the way we practice emergency medicine. The pace is a bit slower and sometimes West Texans resist change. What happens in the rest of our great state is not always viewed as the best for us, but sometimes it actually is. Convincing our community of that can be difficult task, but as West Texans ourselves, our community looks to us for approval of new advances in the delivery of emergency medical care.

McKesson Medical-Surgical supplies freestanding emergency centers (FECs) with more than 200,000 healthcare products needed for operations. McKesson provides a full line of pharmaceuticals, supplies, and equipment (including imaging and lab).