Our History

The idea of building a group providing world-class care becomes a reality. Ohio-based Emergency Medicine Physicians joins with Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe to launch USACS, with a focus on leveraging best practices and a commitment to Clinician ownership.

A dynamic leadership team comes together. Dave Johnson joins as Chief Operating Officer, Dan Savitt as Chief Financial Officer, and Sharon Brunecz as Chief Human Resources Officer. Brad Keller joins as Executive Vice President of Managed Care, and Sam Vail, Chief Development Officer, leads an aggressive mergers and acquisitions strategy.

USACS launches into new markets and solidifies a presence in others, serving nearly four million patients annually at more than 90 locations in 20 states. We add Denver-based Emergency Physicians at Porter Hospitals (EPPH), Maryland-based MEP Health, and Florida-based Tampa Bay Emergency Physicians (TBEP).

A new National Clinical Governance Board examines best practices across founding partners and expands those programs throughout USACS.

APEX Emergency Group and ERGENTUS, together with EPPH, join to form "USACS Colorado." All three are committed to the principle that the best patient care and the best hospital partnerships result when Physicians maintain majority ownership and management of the practice. 

Women’s initiatives are a focus as we attend our debut ACEP Scientific Assembly. In addition to announcing a groundbreaking parental leave policy and hosting a new ACEP Women’s Dialogue Series, we announce the addition of several prominent women Physicians and APPs to our leadership team.

USACS continues attracting partners who share our goals, adding three new groups and approximately 40 locations in three states. A fourth Denver group, Long's Peak Emergency Physicians (LPEP), joins the Colorado region, while in Maryland, Silver Spring Emergency Physicians (SSEP) joins the Mid-Atlantic region. One of the largest groups in Texas, Emergency Service Partners (ESP), joins USACS and adds approximately 750 Physicians and APPs to the team. 

USACS and Cedar Park Regional Medical Center announce a new Integrated Acute Care partnership, and USACS and Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital form a partnership to provide emergency services in Virginia. USACS welcomes Piedmont Emergency Consultants (PEC) with two locations: Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital’s main ED and its freestanding ED at Sentara Martha Jefferson Outpatient Care Center.

USACS continues to expand throughout the country, adding other professionals and healthcare partners who share our vision. This includes partnerships with: Centura Health, consisting of three groups: FRES, SWEP, and SCES, located in central and southwest Colorado, Union Hospital in Elkton, Maryland, Harrisonburg Emergency Physicians (HEP) of Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Warren General Hospital in Warren, Pennsylvania.

While USACS experiences the same sudden and unprecedented effects related to COVID-19 that everyone else does, we react differently – stepping up to face the crisis as a leader in our industry and an exceptional partner for our hospitals. We prioritize state-of-the-art patient care and the safety and needs of our Physicians, APPs, and hospital partners.

USACS begins providing Integrated Acute Care (IAC) services at three Maryland locations: Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center in Rockville, UPMC Western Maryland in Cumberland, and Adventist HealthCare White Oak Medical Center, in Silver Spring. Additionally, we provide IAC services for the former Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park, the site of a 200-bed recovery unit for COVID-19 patients.

USACS becomes the sole system solution for Adventist HealthCare Maryland as the Greater Washington Emergency Physicians (GWEP) joins the group. We begin providing Hospitalist and Critical Care services at AHC Fort Washington Medical Center, becoming the sole Integrated Acute Care (IAC) system solution for all three AHC hospitals in Maryland. 

USACS minority buys out capital partner Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS). WCAS was a strong and reliable partner that helped build the platform upon which USACS will continue to grow. We’re proud to be currently 90% owned by our Physicians.

VEP Healthcare Inc. (VEP) merges with USACS. The addition of VEP Healthcare, a premier provider of clinical management services in California, makes USACS the largest Physician-owned provider of Integrated Acute Care Medicine.  

“A merger of this magnitude, coming on the heels of the greatest healthcare crisis of our lifetimes, speaks volumes about the strength and permanence of the Physician-ownership model.” 

Dominic J. Bagnoli, MD, FACEP, FAAEM, Executive Board Chairman for USACS 

Chattanooga Emergency Medicine (CEM), a Physician-owned group staffing three hospitals in Tennessee and Georgia, joins USACS. We also acquire Alteon Health (Alteon) from its private equity shareholders. Hundreds of Alteon Physicians now join the ranks of USACS Physician owners. 

Mission Viejo Emergency Medicine Associates (MVEMA) joins USACS. The democratic, Physician-owned group has a decades-long track record of providing expert emergency care and an excellent patient experience to the communities of south Orange County, California.

We expand our partnership with the renowned Inova Health System by providing comprehensive Emergency Medicine services to their flagship hospital, Inova Fairfax Medical Campus, which is the fourth busiest ED in the country and includes the Inova L.J. Murphy Children’s Hospital Pediatric Emergency Department. Two Freestanding Emergency Departments were also included in the expansion efforts.

Joining our existing USACS Maryland partner locations is the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), a nationally renowned, university-based regional health system. We now provide Emergency Medicine services at nine UMMS locations across Maryland.

Our partnership with HonorHealth marks our re-entry into the Arizona market, adding three Emergency Departments and one Freestanding Emergency Department to our network. HonorHealth is one of Arizona’s largest nonprofit health systems, providing care to the Greater Phoenix metropolitan area.

We unveil a new look and message for the USACS brand. While this rebrand carries forward a fresh, modern design, we continue to maintain our values of "Servant's Heart. Owner's Mind." and our mission to care for patients.