Board Certification
AAEM Opposes Board Certification
Waiver at Illinois Department of Public Health
AAEM Board Member Tom Scaletta, MD FAAEM sent the following letter to
the Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, John Lumpkin,
MD. The AAEM Board of Directors strongly opposes the board certification
waiver that the Illinois Department of Public Health has instituted. AAEM
continues its position that Emergency Physician Board Certification is
in the public's best interest.
Dear Dr. Lumpkin,
I am writing on behalf of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine
(AAEM) and, like you, as an ABEM-certified Illinoisan. As you are aware,
AAEM is a non-profit, democratic, emergency physician society with a
central mission of improving the quality of emergency medical care.
We firmly believe that Emergency Medicine is best conducted by physicians
who have achieved certification by either the American Board of Emergency
Medicine (ABEM) or the American Osteopathic Board of Emergency Medicine
(AOBEM). There is much objective evidence supporting this conviction.
We also support the chief goal of the Emergency Medical
Services for Children (EMSC) program B improving emergency medical care
for children across country. Many of our members have voluntarily participated
in the process of understanding and meeting the requirements for gaining
Illinois EMSC accreditation.
We are dismayed that the IDPH recently approved a waiver
regarding physician qualifications for EMSC certification. This change
allows physicians that have not completed a residency training program
and do not qualify for the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS)
boards (or those deemed equivalent by the ABMS) to care for critically
ill children. Hospitals that value board-certification and achieved
Emergency Departments Approved for Pediatrics (EDAP) status have been
duped by this criteria change, which did not allow participating hospitals,
emergency physicians, nor community members an opportunity to comment
on your department's decision.
The origin of the IDPH waiver was the Illinois EMSC Facility
Recognition Task Force, which met on November 17, 2000. Those minutes
reflect that "Carolyn Zonia, as representative of ICEP, requested
to present to the committee, for consideration and discussion, formal
waiver requests for six physicians from Northwest Community Healthcare.
They request a waiver from needing to be Board Certified by ABEM or
AOBEM, and to accept the certification of BCEM." The hospital
in question is not a low-volume, rural hospital that simply cannot attract
board-certified physicians.
Standby Emergency Department for Pediatrics (SEDP), a
subordinate designation to EDAP exists. This should become the highest
level of EMSC accreditation for hospitals that cannot or will not staff
continually their emergency departments with at least one board-certified
physician assigned to the most critical cases.
It is fortunate that you did not consider ICEP's request
to recognize BCEM as a legitimate EM board. Recently, The Federal Court
in Sacramento, CA, has upheld a law limiting to those physicians possessing
an ABMS or board certification deemed "equivalent" by the
ABMS the right to advertise that they are "board
certified." As you know, BCEM is a non-ABMS board and passing
it off as a legitimate emergency medicine board is dangerous.
Please contact me at (708) 763-2227 so that we may further
discuss the views of AAEM and work toward a mutually satisfying compromise
on this issue.
Sincerely,
Tom Scaletta,
MD, FAAEM Member, AAEM Board of Directors
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