Clinical Location Naming Conventions

This article defines the standard naming form for UAMS Health clinical locations and explains the grammar rules that govern specialty and service line names within those names. Consistent application of these rules ensures that location names are grammatically correct, internally coherent, and aligned with the established naming corpus across the institution.

The Full Name Structure

A fully qualified clinical location name follows this pattern:

[Brand Prefix] [Specialty or Service Modifier(s)] [Location Type] [Disambiguating Qualifier]

Component	Examples	Notes
Brand prefix	UAMS Health, UAMS Baptist Health	Used only for co-branded locations; omitted from all standard UAMS Health location names, but always included in the Epic External Name
Specialty or service modifier	Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine, Cardiology, Ear, Nose and Throat	See the Modifier Form rules below
Location type	Clinic, Center, Hospital, Unit, Laboratory, Room	The head noun; governs which modifier form is required. See Choosing a Location Type below
Disambiguating qualifier	in Fayetteville, at the UAMS Medical Center, on Rodney Parham, in the Cancer Institute	Added only when needed to distinguish among multiple locations of the same type; always added for departments of a hospital with its own CMS-registered name

Examples of the full structure in use:

• Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Clinic in Fayetteville (standard; no brand prefix)
• UAMS Baptist Health Orthopaedic Clinic in Conway (co-branded; brand prefix present)
• Cardiology Clinic at the UAMS Medical Center (standard; no brand prefix)

Choosing a Location Type (Head Noun)

The head noun tells patients what kind of visit to expect. Choose one head noun per location and use it everywhere the name appears.

Head noun	Use for	Examples
Clinic	Scheduled visits with a provider or for a focused service	Cardiology Clinic, MRI Clinic, Preoperative Evaluation Clinic
Center	A destination that houses several services or a procedural suite	Imaging Center, Endoscopy Center
Unit	Supervised hospital care, usually staying for hours or overnight	Intensive Care Unit, Second Floor Medical-Surgical Unit, Dialysis Unit
Laboratory	Diagnostic testing or specimen collection	Vascular Laboratory, Blood Draw Laboratory
Room	A single named hospital space patients are taken to	Operating Room, Emergency Room
Hospital	A whole hospital	Orthopaedic and Spine Hospital

Avoid Laboratory for procedural suites, because patients read it as blood work. Avoid Department and Services in External Names, because they describe an organization rather than a place.

The Two Modifier Forms

The central grammatical question in clinical location naming is whether the specialty term appears in its adjective form or its noun form. The rule depends on whether a location-type head noun follows.

Rule 1 — Adjective Form When a Head Noun Follows

When the specialty name modifies a location-type head noun (Clinic, Center, Hospital, Unit, etc.), use the adjective form of the specialty. The modifier describes what kind of clinic or center it is.

ACGME specialty names are already in their canonical form and should be used as written. The following examples show specialty names as they appear in clinical location names — these are not derived or transformed, they are the specialty names themselves.

Specialty name (modifier)	Head noun
Orthopaedic	Clinic
Orthopaedic Sports Medicine	Clinic
Neurological Surgery	Clinic
Gynecologic Oncology	Clinic
Surgical Critical Care	Clinic
Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery	Clinic
Pediatric Surgery	Clinic
Pediatric Cardiology	Clinic
Plastic Surgery	Clinic
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation	Clinic

The adjective-vs.-noun distinction is most practically relevant for specialties whose noun form ends in -ics — specifically Orthopaedics, Obstetrics, and Pediatrics — where the noun form might incorrectly appear in place of the adjective form.

Correct examples:

• Orthopaedic Clinic
• Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Clinic
• Gynecologic Oncology Clinic
• Neurological Surgery Clinic
• Pediatric Surgery Clinic
• Plastic Surgery Clinic

Incorrect examples (noun form used where adjective form is required):

• Orthopaedics Clinic
• Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Clinic

Rule 2 — Noun Form When No Head Noun Follows

When a specialty name stands alone as a specialty label, use the noun form. A specialty label identifies the service offered, not the location. Examples include exterior building signage, wall graphics, department directories, and service line identifiers. The specialty is itself the subject, not a descriptor of something else.

Correct specialty label examples:

• Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine
• Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Cardiology
• Dermatology

Incorrect specialty label examples:

• Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine
• Obstetric and Gynecologic
• Orthopaedic (as a standalone noun)

A location’s formal name follows Rule 1 and includes its head noun: Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Clinic. The formal name is used for the Epic External Name, location profiles, patient records, appointment letters, and any sign that identifies the location itself. The formal name is the same everywhere it appears. For example, a wall-mounted sign that points to a specific location, such as a hallway sign reading Endoscopy Center, identifies the location and uses the formal name.

A building exterior may therefore read Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, because it labels the service, while the location it identifies is formally named Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Clinic. Both are correct, and they are not alternates for one another.

This allowance does not extend to off-campus provider-based locations. For those, any name displayed on the building, the door, or the directory must not present the location as separate from its main provider, and must agree with the name on file for the location. Confirm with compliance before using a specialty-only label on such a location.

Specialties and Services With No Adjective Form

Some specialties are named exclusively with a noun that also functions as an attributive modifier in American English healthcare naming practice. For these, the noun form is used in all contexts, including when a head noun follows.

Example specialties:

• Anesthesiology
• Audiology
• Cardiology
• Dermatology
• Endocrinology
• Gastroenterology
• Hematology
• Immunology
• Nephrology
• Neurology
• Ophthalmology
• Otolaryngology
• Pathology
• Psychiatry
• Pulmonology
• Radiology
• Rheumatology
• Urology

Correct standard name examples:

• Cardiology Clinic
• Hematology Clinic
• Nephrology Clinic
• Psychiatry Clinic
• Urology Oncology Clinic
• Gastroenterology Clinic

There is no “cardiologic clinic,” “nephrologic clinic,” or “urologic clinic” in standard clinical naming, so the noun serves as the modifier by convention. This is a naming-practice norm, not a grammatical exception — the nouns are functioning as attributive nouns in these constructions.

The same applies to service, procedure, and imaging modality terms that are not specialty names, such as Endoscopy, Dialysis, MRI, CT, and Ultrasound. These have no adjective form in common use and take the noun form before a head noun:

• Endoscopy Center
• MRI Clinic
• Ultrasound Clinic

Compound Specialty Names

When a location serves more than one specialty or service line, the specialties are joined with and (no ampersand in formal written names):

• Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Clinic
• Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic
• Allergy and Immunology Clinic
• Hematology and Medical Oncology Clinic
• Occupational and Environmental Medicine Clinic
• Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine Clinic
• Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery Clinic
• Medical and Surgical Weight Management Clinic
• Orthopaedic and Spine Clinic
• Paracentesis and Thoracentesis Clinic

When three or more terms are joined, use a serial comma before the final and:

• Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism Clinic
• Laboratory Genetics and Genomics Clinic (two terms; no serial comma needed)

Each specialty in a compound name follows the same adjective-vs.-noun rule it would follow on its own. In Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Clinic, both Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine are adjective-form modifiers of Clinic. In Hematology and Medical Oncology Clinic, Hematology is a noun-form modifier (no adjective form in common clinical use) and Medical Oncology is an adjective-form modifier — each follows its own rule independently.

Established care-level terms. Medical-Surgical names a single, established level of inpatient care, not two specialties, so it keeps its hyphen rather than being joined with and: Second Floor Medical-Surgical Unit. The slash form (Medical/Surgical) is not used, because screen readers announce it and it is awkward in URLs.

Floor Designations

When two or more departments in the same facility would otherwise have identical names, add the floor to the core name, before the head noun, with the ordinal spelled out: Second Floor Medical-Surgical Unit, Third Floor Medical-Surgical Unit. A floor is part of the core name here, not a qualifier, so it stays when the facility qualifier is added: Second Floor Medical-Surgical Unit at UAMS Health in Bryant.

Do not add a floor to a department that has no same-named counterpart in its facility. If a duplicate is later added, all affected locations are renamed together, as under Qualifier Promotion below.

Disambiguating Qualifiers

A disambiguating qualifier is appended to a location name only when another location with the same core name exists within the UAMS Health system. Qualifiers are not part of the core name and do not affect modifier form. A location that is the only one of its type in the system carries no qualifier.

Exception: departments of a hospital that has its own CMS-registered name always carry that name as their qualifier, whether or not another location shares their core name. Locations in the same building that are not part of that hospital’s certified space do not take the hospital’s name. See Level 2a and the CMS discussion in Why the Name You Choose Matters.

The correct qualifier form is determined by the level at which the disambiguation is needed.

Level 1 — Multiple Locations in Different Municipalities

When the same core name exists in more than one Arkansas municipality, append in [Municipality] using the official municipality name.

• Cardiology Clinic in Batesville
• Cardiology Clinic in El Dorado
• Cardiology Clinic in Maumelle
• Family Medical Center in Fayetteville
• Family Medical Center in Fort Smith
• Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Clinic in Fayetteville
• Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Clinic in Lowell
• Specialty Clinic in Bryant

When a location that shares the core name is a department of a hospital with its own CMS-registered name, use the hospital’s name in place of the municipality: Operating Room at UAMS Health in Bryant, not Operating Room in Bryant. The same-named location at the UAMS Medical Center takes at the UAMS Medical Center, and all affected locations are updated together. See Why the Name You Choose Matters for the reason.

Level 2 — Multiple Locations Within the Same Municipality

When the same core name exists more than once within a single municipality, the in [Municipality] qualifier alone is insufficient and a more specific qualifier is required. The form depends on the nature of the distinguishing feature.

2a — UAMS Campus or Facility: at [the] [Name]

When the location is on a named UAMS campus or in a named UAMS-operated facility, such as a hospital, append at [the] [Campus or Facility Name]. Include the only when it is part of the proper name. For a hospital with its own CMS-registered name, departments of that hospital always carry the qualifier, even when no other location shares the core name. Locations in the same building that are not part of the hospital’s certified space do not.

• Cardiology Clinic at the UAMS Medical Center
• Internal Medicine Clinic at the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus
• Operating Room at UAMS Health in Bryant
• Endoscopy Center at UAMS Health in Bryant

2b — Street Address: on [Street Name]

When the location is distinguished by its street address, append on [Street Name] using the common street name without a directional prefix or road-type suffix unless needed for clarity.

• Orthopaedic Clinic on Colonel Glenn
• Orthopaedic Clinic on Autumn Road
• Orthopaedic Clinic on Shackleford
• Rehabilitation Therapy Clinic on Colonel Glenn
• Rehabilitation Therapy Clinic on Autumn Road
• Neighborhood Clinic on Capitol Mall

2c — Non-UAMS Named Property or Building: at [Location Name]

When the location is housed within or co-located with a named property or building that is not a UAMS campus — such as a retirement community, a medical office building, or a non-UAMS building — append at [Location Name]. Whether the precedes the name depends on whether it is part of the property’s standard name.

• Internal Medicine Clinic at Butterfield Trail Village
• Specialty Clinic at Freeway Medical Tower
• Nutrition Services Clinic at Freeway Medical Tower
• Neurology Clinic at the Doctors Building

Preposition Selection

The preposition used in a disambiguating qualifier is not interchangeable — each corresponds to a specific type of locating context.

Preposition	Context	Example
on	Street name (Level 2b)	on Colonel Glenn, on Capitol Mall
at	Named place as primary locating identifier: a UAMS campus or named UAMS facility (Level 2a), or a non-UAMS named property or building (Level 2c)	at the UAMS Medical Center, at UAMS Health in Bryant, at Freeway Medical Tower, at Butterfield Trail Village
in the	Named building within a UAMS campus, providing secondary specification when the campus is already implied (Level 3)	in the Cancer Institute, in the Orthopaedic and Spine Hospital

The article the is part of the location’s proper name, not a fixed feature of the preposition. Use the when it is conventionally part of the name (e.g., the UAMS Medical Center, the Doctors Building, the Cancer Institute); omit it when it is not (e.g., UAMS Health in Bryant, Butterfield Trail Village, Freeway Medical Tower).

Level 3 — Multiple Locations Within the Same Campus

When the same core name exists more than once within a single campus, the at the [Campus Name] qualifier alone is insufficient and a building-level qualifier is required. Append in the [Building Name] using the building’s common name. The UAMS Medical Center is a campus of individually named buildings (the Outpatient Center and the Cancer Institute, for example), not a single building, so this level applies there regularly.

• MRI Clinic in the Cancer Institute
• CT Imaging Clinic in the Cancer Institute
• Blood Draw Laboratory in the Cancer Institute
• Hand Therapy Clinic in the Orthopaedic and Spine Hospital
• Specialty Clinic in the Orthopaedic and Spine Hospital

Qualifier Promotion

Each level supersedes the one above it when disambiguation requires greater specificity. Higher-level qualifiers are dropped rather than stacked.

Situation	Qualifier form
Same name in multiple municipalities	in [Municipality]
Same name in multiple locations within one municipality	at [the] [Campus or Facility Name] or on [Street Name] — municipality qualifier dropped
Same name in multiple locations within one campus	in the [Building Name] — campus qualifier dropped

When an existing location gains a duplicate at a more specific level, all affected locations are updated together. No location in the group retains a qualifier that no longer uniquely identifies it.

Brand Prefix

The brand prefix (UAMS Baptist Health, Baptist Health / UAMS, etc.) is used only for co-branded locations — those operating under a formal partnership with an external health system or institution. It is omitted from all standard UAMS Health location names. The form of the brand prefix, including the order of the partner names, is set by the agreement between the two institutions for that location. Use the form the agreement specifies rather than choosing one.

Epic department records: Regardless of whether a location is co-branded, the UAMS Health prefix must be included in the Epic department record’s External Name field. The External Name is the form of the location name surfaced to patients in MyChart and other patient-facing contexts, where the UAMS Health brand identifier is always required.

Co-branded examples (brand prefix present):

• UAMS Baptist Health Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic
• UAMS Baptist Health Orthopaedic Clinic in Conway
• Baptist Health / UAMS Thoracic Surgery Clinic

Standard examples (no brand prefix):

• Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Clinic in Fayetteville
• Cardiology Clinic at the UAMS Medical Center
• Family Medical Center in Little Rock

Epic External Name examples (the UAMS Health prefix is required in the External Name field):

• UAMS Health Operating Room at UAMS Health in Bryant
• UAMS Health Cardiology Clinic at the UAMS Medical Center

In the first example, the leading UAMS Health is the External Name requirement. The trailing UAMS Health in Bryant is the facility’s name and is part of the qualifier.

Why the Name You Choose Matters

The conventions in this article govern what clinical locations should be called. A separate but related question is how consequential that choice is — and that depends on the location type.

A note on terminology: in federal regulatory language, provider refers to the hospital or health system as an institution — not to an individual clinician. Provider-based means a location that operates under the name, ownership, and financial and administrative control of that institutional main provider. This is distinct from how UAMS uses provider internally to refer to individual clinicians such as physicians, nurses, and advanced practice providers.

On-campus provider-based locations (those on the campus of the hospital that serves as their main provider, such as the UAMS Medical Center) carry no Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services naming constraint. They operate under the main facility’s enrollment. Name them according to the conventions here. There is no external compliance entanglement.

Freestanding clinics are similarly unconstrained by CMS from a naming standpoint. They do not carry provider-based designation and are not subject to provider-based regulations.

Off-campus provider-based locations are a different matter. To maintain provider-based status, these locations must satisfy the public awareness criterion at 42 CFR §413.65(d)(4), which requires that the location be “held out to the public and other payers as part of the main provider.” In practice, this means the name on file for the location must agree with every patient-facing instance of it — the website, marketing materials, the sign on the door, and the building directory — and none of them may present the location as separate from the main provider. CMS addressed this directly in the preamble to the 2000 final rule that established §413.65, rejecting the argument that naming should be treated as a marketing decision: operating under the name of the main provider, CMS said, “is an important indicator of status as an integral and subordinate part of that provider.” A location that presents itself under a different name risks failing the public awareness criterion and losing provider-based status. Changing an enrolled name is a significant administrative lift, and beginning in 2028, off-campus provider-based locations will also require CMS attestations that tie directly to the name on file.

Separately certified hospitals are certified and enrolled with Medicare separately from the UAMS Medical Center, under their own Medicare provider identifiers. They are not provider-based locations of another hospital, so the public awareness criterion at 42 CFR §413.65(d)(4) does not govern their names. The constraint is instead that the name used with patients match the name on file for the hospital. Departments within the hospital always use that name as their qualifier (Level 2a), even when no other location shares their core name. When a hospital’s existing Medicare enrollment is taken over through a change of ownership, the new name is set as part of that filing, so decide it first. As with off-campus provider-based locations, settle the name with compliance and provider enrollment before anything is filed.

A single building can house a separately certified hospital and off-campus provider-based locations of a different hospital. Names follow the enrolled entity, not the building. Departments of the hospital take the hospital’s name as their qualifier, while a Specialty Clinic in Bryant in the same building, billed under the UAMS Medical Center, does not.

The practical implication: for off-campus provider-based locations, the naming decision should be made deliberately and in coordination with provider enrollment before anything goes to CMS, because once it does, the name is effectively locked.

Quick Reference

Does a head noun (Clinic, Center, Hospital, etc.) follow the specialty name?

• Yes → Use the adjective form: Orthopaedic Clinic, Gynecologic Oncology Clinic, Pediatric Surgery Clinic
• No (a specialty label such as exterior signage, a directory entry, or a service line identifier) → Use the noun form: Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology

Is the specialty name a noun-only form with no common clinical adjective?

• Yes (Cardiology, Urology, Dermatology, Hematology, Nephrology, Psychiatry, etc., and service or modality terms such as Endoscopy and MRI) → Use the noun form in all contexts, including before a head noun: Cardiology Clinic, Psychiatry Clinic, Endoscopy Center

Is more than one specialty or service line present?

• Join with and (not &) in formal names.
• Use a serial comma before and when three or more terms are joined.
• Each specialty follows its own modifier-form rule independently.
• Established care-level terms such as Medical-Surgical keep their hyphen.

Do two or more departments in the same facility share a core name?

• Yes → Add the floor before the head noun, with the ordinal spelled out: Second Floor Medical-Surgical Unit
• No → No floor

Does a qualifier need to be added?

1. Is this a department of a hospital with its own CMS-registered name (for example, UAMS Health in Bryant)? → Always add at [Facility Name], even if no other location shares the core name. Locations in the same building that are not part of the hospital do not.
2. Does the same core name exist elsewhere in Arkansas? → Add in [Municipality] (or the facility name, per step 1)
3. Does the same core name exist elsewhere in the same municipality? → Add at [the] [Campus or Facility Name] or on [Street Name] (drop the municipality qualifier)
4. Does the same core name exist elsewhere on the same campus? → Add in the [Building Name] (drop the campus qualifier)
5. Is this the only location of its type in the system, and not a department of a CMS-registered hospital? → No qualifier

Is this a co-branded location?

• Yes → Include the brand prefix
• No → Omit the brand prefix (but always include UAMS Health in the Epic External Name)