Position Statements

Position Statement: Emergency Physicians are Not Responsible for Providing Routine Follow-Up Care and Screening It is the position of The American Academy of Emergency Medicine that follow-up care is beyond the scope of practice of emergency physicians and that care in the Emergency Department should encompass diagnosis and treatment and stabilization of acute emergency medical conditions. Therefore: […]

It is AAEM’s position that physicians at work in an emergency department should be notified in real time as soon as a threat of violence to their hospital or emergency department becomes known.   Approved: 9/14/16  

Emergency physicians have the responsibility for all emergency patients’ care and disposition — including which patients require involuntary holds. The regulations concerning psychiatric holds or detainments vary from state to state. Some states require that law enforcement places a patient in an involuntary hold status without physician input. EPs should have the responsibility for patient […]

Medical scribes should be considered ancillary staff members employed to assist the emergency physician with data entry and documentation requirements. Their function should be to free the emergency physician to focus on clinical duties.  All information entered or generated in a health care record by a medical scribe should be reviewed for accuracy by the treating […]

The number of psychiatric patients who present to emergency departments (EDs) has increased in the last few years; many of these patients will need to be admitted to an inpatient bed. The care of psychiatric patients in the ED is commonly delayed by limited involvement of psychiatric specialty personnel and lack of psychiatric resources in […]

AAEM believes that evidence for testing psychiatric patients as part of medical clearance process clearly states that the testing should be clinically based, similar to other patients in the ED, and, individually based upon the particular patient presentation.  Consistent with the literature on the topic, AAEM opposes routine laboratory testing of psychiatric patients in the […]

AAEM encourages prescriber and pharmacist access to prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs), which can be a useful tool to identify possible prescription drug abuse. AAEM supports the interstate data sharing between state PDMPs and calls for standardization between states and the eventual creation of a federal PDMP. PDMPs should report prescriptions in real-time and be […]

The American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) opposes emergency department wait time guarantees. Wait time guarantees potentially compromise patient care by forcing emergency physicians to reduce their attention on truly emergent patients to ensure that less-emergent patients are seen within the wait time guarantee interval. As wait-time guarantees do not take into account patient acuity […]

The American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) opposes joint ventures between a hospital or hospital system and a corporate emergency medicine contract management group (CMG) whereby a portion of the emergency physician professional fee is distributed to the hospital or hospital system and the CMG in excess of fair market value for services performed.  Such an arrangement […]

It is the position of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine that, when properly applied to an individual patient for whom the clinician already has a low clinical suspicion for PE, based on a gestalt impression, the Pulmonary Embolism Rule-Out Criteria (PERC) meets the standard of care for EM. When a patient is PERC negative […]

Emergency departments and emergency physician’s primary directive is to care for ill and traumatized patients presenting in an unscheduled fashion. This is constructed without regard for ability to pay and with a high expectation for accurate and timely evaluation and management to exclude and treat emergent and urgent life and limb-threatening conditions. Increasingly limited resources […]

Introduction Prescription drug abuse has become an issue of national importance. The number of deaths from prescription opioids now exceeds those caused by heroin and cocaine combined. In order to help stem this epidemic there has been a call for more judicious prescribing on the part of physicians.1 The AAEM offers this model guideline to […]

Emergency physician contracts should not include indemnification or “hold harmless” agreements regarding the hospital or practice site. These agreements unfairly shift risk to emergency physicians and this risk is not generally insurable.   Published: 2/10/12  

Heatherlee Bailey, MD FAAEM Director of Critical Care Education, Division on Emergency Medicine, Duke University Medical Center Michael C. Bond, MD FAAEM University of Maryland School of Medicine Mark Reiter, MD MBA FAAEM St. Luke’s Hospital, Bethlehem, PA Lisa Moreno-Walton, MD MSCR FAAEM Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center – New Orleans Mary Claire O’Brien, […]

The American Academy of Emergency Medicine, recognizing recent international reports of governmental interference with emergency care and at the request of our emergency physician colleagues in some of the affected countries, condemns any activities by governmental or non-governmental agencies that interfere with the normal operation of emergency services. Accordingly, the American Academy of Emergency Medicine […]

The American Academy of Emergency Medicine opposes the emergency services reimbursement provisions outlined in the interim final rule of the Patient Protections and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that sets insurer compensation rates for out-of-network providers of emergency services.  Emergency departments play an integral role in our healthcare system.  In addition to treating urgent and emergency […]

The American Academy of Emergency Medicine (hereinafter AAEM or the Academy) supports an increased level of scienter for EMTALA mandated care.1  Specifically, AAEM supports state laws that require plaintiffs to prove gross negligence or recklessness, by clear and convincing evidence, in cases alleging negligence for emergency department care, and for subsequent care to stabilize emergency […]

The American Academy of Emergency Medicine opposes the emergency services reimbursement provisions outlined in the interim final rule of the Patient Protections and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that sets insurer compensation rates for out-of-network providers of emergency services.  Emergency departments play an integral role in our healthcare system.  In addition to treating urgent and emergency […]

The American Academy of Emergency Medicine discourages the practice of setting admission goals or admission rates for emergency department patients. The Academy further discourages inducements from hospitals or other interested parties meant to encourage or enforce these admission goals. Such inducements may include bonuses, penalties or linkage of admission rates to the rewarding or renewal […]

1) The American Academy of Emergency Medicine, believing that emergency department care is best provided by physicians properly board certified in emergency medicine, reiterates the relevant portions of its Mission Statement: 2) Organized hospital medical staffs have the primary responsibility of credentialing physicians to work in their emergency departments and may decide how to best […]

Freestanding emergency departments (FSED) have the potential to address several intractable problems in emergency medicine, especially overcrowding and lack of access to emergency care, a loss of autonomy for emergency physicians, and widespread violation of emergency physician practice rights at hospitals. FSEDs serve emergency medicine as an innovative practice model, expanding the reach of emergency […]

AAEM WHITE PAPER ON RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS A Policy Paper of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine J Emerg Med 2006; 30:473-475 Larry D. Weiss, MD, JD, FAAEM Professor of Emergency Medicine University of Maryland School of Medicine Approved with revisions by the American Academy of Emergency Medicine Board of Directors at its July 16, 2007, […]

AAEM WHITE PAPER ON DUE PROCESS RIGHTS FOR PHYSICIANS J Emerg Med 2007; 33:439-440 Larry D. Weiss, MD, JD, FAAEM Professor of Emergency Medicine University of Maryland School of Medicine Approved with revisions by the American Academy of Emergency Medicine Board of Directors, May 15, 2007 INTRODUCTION The American Academy of Emergency Medicine (hereinafter AAEM) […]

The practice of boarding patients in the ED is defined as holding admitted patients in the ED until a staffed, in-patient bed becomes available and this period usually lasts several hours (and sometimes days). Boarding is not in the best interest of the patient being boarded as it compromises their comfort, privacy and medical care. […]

The American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM), a national professional society of board-certified emergency physicians, has serious concerns about the creation of the American Board of Disaster Medicine (ABDM) by the American Board of Physician Specialists (ABPS). We note that: A. The creation of any subspecialty board must follow a rigorous process as board certification […]