Now We're Vituity. But What Happened to CEP America?

Denise Brown , MD

Chief Growth Officer

Published February 05, 2018

Last week, CEP America, MedAmerica, and MedAmerica Billing Services Inc. united as Vituity.

Vituity combines the words "vital," "vitality," and "acuity" and celebrates our uplifting journey to transform healthcare and improve lives.

The acuity of today's healthcare space demands high-level, vital solutions. The Vituity name characterizes the energy, sharp focus, expertise, and passion that we bring to healthcare.

But while our name has changed, our values and core beliefs haven’t.

Why change names?

We've been CEP in some form since the 1970s. So, there's a lot of history and heart behind those three letters.

Our partnership was founded as California Emergency Physicians — CEP for short — before emergency medicine was a recognized specialty.

We were just a few California physicians running the practice ourselves.

But we held strongly to our core belief: engaged, passionate providers are at the heart of better care.

And here we are today.

We have experienced momentous change over the years:

Growth beyond our California roots to become a national organization. (We officially changed our name to CEP America when we started expanding into new states in 2005.)
Becoming an integrated, multispecialty practice. In addition to emergency physicians, our partners now include hospitalists, intensivists, anesthesiologists, psychiatrists, and neurologists.
We’re still physician-owned and -managed. But we couldn't succeed today without our physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and anesthetists who deliver amazing care right beside us.

So, as we evolved through the years, we slowly grew out of our original name.

denise brown vituity cep america name change

We also felt it was time for our name to reflect our core values.

CEP was founded on the principle that physicians with a passion for patient care would deliver their best for patients and hospitals. Everything we do positions us to transform care and change lives. For example:

Our founders believed in the transformative power of physician engagement. So they organized as a democratic partnership in which every physician is an equal owner with a personal stake in our success.
Since our founding, every partner — from the CEO on down — has worked clinical shifts. Patients are the center of everything we do. Caring for the wellbeing of our communities keeps us grounded and moving forward.

These were powerful ideas when we were founded over 40 years ago. But today, they're more important than ever.

With the corporatization of medicine, there's been a real loss of passion and therapeutic interaction that is a sacred part of what we do. So we feel driven to bring joy and heart to the practice of healthcare.

Welcome Vituity: new name, same passion for patient care

Becoming Vituity was an exciting change for us.

The acute care landscape has transformed more in the last 10 years than in the past 100. And the pace of change is only accelerating.

We've responded by:

Pioneering new delivery models that help us care for patients where and when they need it
Developing new team-based processes that improve efficiency and safety
Using technology to expand access to care
Leveraging data to improve care quality and delivery
Leading change in our partner hospitals and communities

No one knows what our next 40 years and beyond hold. But no matter what comes our way, we at Vituity will be doing our best to transform care and improve the lives of patients.

And we'll be doing it with all the joy and passion behind our new name.

To learn more about Vituity, visit our new website, Vituity.com.

MedAmerica will continue to market and provide management services in the medical field under its longstanding brand name "MedAmerica".

Partnering to improve patient lives

Vituity branding orange wave pattern background