Thanks for this. I'd never heard of a freestanding emergency care (FSEC) center, either.

In poking around the interwebs to read further on this subject, I also learned a couple of ways patients can distinguish between FSEC centers that *are* associated with area hospitals and those that *are not*, the latter referred to as "independent providers."

First (and rather obviously), FSEC centers associated with hospitals should be indicating the name of the associated hospital somehow within the center's name or at least in their signage. If this clue isn't apparent, a second check the patient can make is whether the office contains signage indicating that its services are covered by Medicare/Medicaid, since FSEC centers associated with hospitals will be displaying them.

In the states allowing independent providers to operate FSEC centers, though, no such office signage will be visible. Medicare/Medicaid does not cover the services of the independent providers. Also note that TN *does not* allow these independents.

More particulars here, from the American College of Emergency Physicians.