Position Statements

The American Academy of Emergency Medicine believes that a healthy physician-patient relationship is a core principle of the practice of emergency medicine. There is a growing trend to use patient satisfaction surveys as a tool to assess the quality of this interaction. As more organizations are using these questionnaires in their determinations of compensation and […]

DATE: May, 2006 SUBMITTED BY: Nancy Bonalumi, RN, MS, CEN; ENA President Tom Scaletta, MD FAAEM; AAEM President It is ideal for emergency nurses and physicians to practice in an optimal working environment where, working as a team, we can provide safe and excellent emergency patient care. Inappropriate behavior disrupts the operations of the emergency […]

(from White Paper on Improving Service Quality) On behalf the American Academy of Emergency Medicine, we proposed this position statement for consideration by the Board of Directors: It is the mission of emergency medicine to provide continuous access to board certified emergency physicians to provide high quality care for patients with emergent and urgent conditions. […]

The American Academy of Emergency Medicine believes the following principles to be essential to the ethical conduct of an expert offering opinions or testimony in medical legal matters. Violation of these principles constitutes a violation of the Academy’s Ethics policy and may be subject to sanctions as described there-in. Expert Testimony as Medical Practice Provision […]

An emergency physician is entitled to Due Process upon unilateral termination by his or her employer (or contracting entity) or upon any other adverse action that otherwise affects his or her job security. Due Process assumes that the following are property rights of an emergency physician, fundamental to quality patient care and the pursuit of […]

WHEREAS covenants-not-to-compete restrict competition, disrupt continuity of care, and potentially deprive the public of medical services,1 and WHEREAS the American Medical Association Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs discourages such covenants-not-to-compete,1 and WHEREAS covenants-not-to-compete exist in derogation of the Constitutional right to live, travel, and practice one's trade or profession wherever one pleases,2 and WHEREAS covenants-not-to-compete have been […]

The American Academy of Emergency Medicine believes that patients requiring emergency care need universal access to both high quality pre-hospital and emergency department based medical care. AAEM recognizes the vocation of pre-hospital medicine to include patient advocacy and transportation of patients to facilities best able to deliver the services they require. AAEM also recognizes the […]

Background Annual visit volume to U.S. emergency departments continues to increase, The number of U.S. emergency departments continues to decrease, ED crowding is a serious nationwide problem that has multiple causes, ED crowding is a result of decreasing total hospital and health systems capacity and inability to meet the demand for care, and A growing […]

AAEM White Paper on Tort Reform A Policy Paper of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine J Emerg Med 2006; 30:473-475 Larry D. Weiss, M.D., J.D. Albert J. Lauro Professor of Medicine Louisiana State University School of Medicine Department of Medicine, Section of Emergency Medicine 1532 Tulane Ave. Suite 1351, Charity Hospital New Orleans, LA 70112 […]

I confirm/certify that all of the following are true: With the provisional period not to exceed one year, our physician group provides our emergency physicians access to predefined due process. Our physician group, or its controlling entity, has a predefined mechanism that regularly and automatically provides all our emergency physicians the detail of their own […]

AAEM recognizes the right of employee emergency physicians to organize into collective bargaining units under the auspices of the National Labor Relations Board. AAEM acknowledges the presence of certain practice issues, such as economic exploitation and termination without cause, that may prompt the formation of unions in emergency medicine. We support AAEM members who form […]

The American Academy of Emergency Medicine firmly opposes misleading advertising of professional expertise in Emergency Medicine by physicians who are not board certified. Therefore, physicians practicing in the United States may not advertise that they are board certified in Emergency Medicine unless (1) the board is approved by the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM), […]

AAEM Position Statement on Documentation and Payment for EMTALA Requirements Whereas, The existing system of submitting forms documenting total body medical history and total body examination during time critical and condition specific emergency treatment in order to obtain payment for emergency services rendered is both antiquated and burdensome, directly reducing time spent in bedside patient […]

Whereas, One in five Americans currently does not possess health insurance, Emergency Medicine is experiencing a crisis in overcrowding and inadequate funding, Emergency departments are more than ever before expected to act as the front line for medical services in the event of regional or national disasters, It is the position of the American Academy […]

The American Academy of Emergency Medicine believes that ABEM/AOBEM certified emergency physicians who complete an ACGME certified critical care fellowship should be allowed to take an American board examination in critical care medicine. We urge ABMS to strongly consider opening the exam for such emergency physicians.   Approved: 12/9/02  

In some medical institutions, due to limited physician coverage, the emergency physician is required to respond to various in-hospital (out-of-ED) situations. This is particularly true during evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays. In those institutions with single emergency physician coverage, responding to such situations leaves the ED without direct physician coverage. This then deprives ED patients […]

Background As medical research of drugs and devices has evolved, the quality of available evidence has benefited from increasing numbers of well designed randomized controlled trials, leading directly to reductions in selection bias. An additional source of potential bias is found when manufacturers with interests vested in positive trial outcomes sponsor trials themselves. In order […]

by Howard Blumstein, MD FAAEM and Raymond Roberge MD MPH FAAEM Based on a suggestion from an AAEM member, we have begun to develop a policy statement regarding coverage of emergencies involving patients who are already in the hospital. The reality is that in many small hospitals there is little high quality care available for […]

The AAEM Board of Directors established the following position statement during its May 18, 2002 Board meeting which was held in conjunction with the SAEM meeting in St. Louis, MO.   AAEM On-Call Crisis Position Statement The American Academy of Emergency Medicine believes the crisis in “on call” coverage represents a very serious threat to […]

WHEREAS typical emergency physicians do not provide practice inpatient medicine; WHEREAS admitted patients benefit by one primary physician orchestrating a treatment plan and by these orders being scrutinized by the nurse that will initiate those orders; WHEREAS emergency department nurses, due to increasing patient volumes and nurse shortages, rarely have sufficient time to transcribe admitting […]

The AAEM Board of Directors established the following position statement during its September 2001 Board meeting which was held in conjunction with the First Mediterranean Emergency Medicine Congress in Stresa, September 2-5th, 2001.   Preamble: Governments have a responsibility for the total health of their societies. The health of a people depends on much more […]

Medicare, Medicaid and many third-party health care insurers expect the individual physician to be aware of what is being billed for services on their behalf. The individual physician can be held liable for fraudulent claims even if the claim was submitted on their behalf by an employer or a billing entity and not personally reviewed […]

Whereas the volume of ED visits continues to rise and now exceeds 100 million in the United States annually; and Whereas the scope of Emergency Medicine requires a high intensity of service for many conditions, especially during the first hour of treatment; and Whereas emergency nursing involves patient evaluation, interval assessments, medication administration, procedure assistance, […]

Whereas higher care quality, improved patient safety, and decreased medical legal risk can be directly linked to qualified Emergency Medicine specialists; and Whereas emergency physicians should be involved in the process by which they are credentialed; and Whereas AAEM has become the lead organization in promoting the practice of Emergency Medicine only by qualified practitioners; […]

AAEM asserts that board certification through ABEM or AOBEM is recognized as the standard that establishes competence in the diagnosis and management of conditions in Emergency Medicine. The restriction of employment or access to fellowship training programs for board-certified emergency physicians based upon a requirement of prior Emergency Medicine residency training is improper. AAEM asserts […]