Board Meeting Minutes

American Academy of Emergency Medicine
Minutes of Board of Directors Conference Call
July 12, 2001

IN ATTENDANCE: Robert McNamara, MD; Joseph Wood, MD, JD; Drew Fenton, MD; Carol Barsky, MD; Howard Blumstein, MD; Antoine Kazzi, MD; Geoffrey Mitchell, MD; Margaret O'Leary, MD; Raymond Roberge, MD; Tom Scaletta, MD; Scott Weiner, MD; Leslie Zun, MD. Absent: William Durkin, MD Staff: Beth Wilson and Kay Whalen.

Dr. McNamara welcomed everyone to the call and drew their attention to the first agenda item.

I. Approval of May 5, 2001 Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Dr. Kazzi noted that under section VI, Stresa, the number of meeting registrants needed to break even was 400 rather than 300. He also noted that section VIII, Group Integrity Clauses, should read as follows, "draft AAEM policy statement on Group Integrity Clauses that was forwarded by an emergency physician from California for consideration by the AAEM Board. He noted that this statement was intended to address those instances when restrictive covenant clauses may be acceptable (to protect the integrity of democratic groups)". Dr. McNamara asked that section XI, ACEP Exhibit, list the address of AAEM's website as www.911emergency.org.

After the above corrections are made, Dr. Scaletta moved and Dr. Fenton seconded that the minutes of the May 5, 2001 Board meeting be approved. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

II. President's Report

Dr. McNamara reported that he continues to speak at residency programs. He recently spoke at Emory University and the University of Pennsylvania. He will soon be speaking at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine as well.

Dr. McNamara also reported that EM News interviewed him for an article on contract management companies for an upcoming issue.

III. Treasurer's Report

Dr. Fenton then presented the June 30, 2001 financial statements to the Board. He noted that after expenses had been paid, AAEM had realized a net income from the Scientific Assembly. He also noted that the income from the state chapters is currently more than the expense.

IV. Membership Report

Ms. Whalen then reported that full voting membership is currently 8.2% ahead of last year's pace and overall membership is up 12.4%. She also thanked all Board members who called non-renewing members.

Dr. Scaletta asked for the number of "DO" members. Ms. Whalen replied that AAEM has over 120 full voting and a like amount of resident members that hold "DO" degrees. Dr. McNamara has spoken at several osteopathic programs.

V. AAEM List Proposal

The Board then considered a request from an AAEM member for an AAEM listserve. After discussion, the Board decided that it would be best if AAEM's issues were discussed on the existing Emergency Medicine listserve, EMED-L. Staff was asked to promote the EMED-L listserve to our members.

VI. Stresa Update

Dr. Kazzi reported that 340 abstracts have been accepted for the Stresa meeting. Therefore, he is confident that we will have the 400 registrants necessary to break even on the conference. Registrants from all over the world will be attending.

VII. Informational Items

Dr. McNamara then turned the Board's attention to the newly-elected Resident Section Board. He noted that this was a diverse group that was excited to be serving AAEM.

Next, the Board reviewed the Ladies Home Journal article that was included in the agenda materials. Ms. Whalen reported that our www.911emergency.org website received over 60,000 hits after this article was printed.

Dr. McNamara then reported that the editorial board for the Journal of Emergency Medicine will be meeting during the Scientific Assembly in San Francisco.

Ms. Whalen then reported that the Fall Oral Board Review Courses already had sixty registrants. AAEM is still recruiting examiners for these courses.

VIII. Upcoming Elections

Dr. McNamara reminded the Board that elections at the 2002 Scientific Assembly will be for both officer and at-large director positions. The deadline for nominations is September 14th. In addition to an article in the upcoming issue of Common Sense, the call for nominations will be sent out via e-mail and posted on the website.

IX. EMRA Update

Dr. McNamara reported that EMRA has decided to cut off all ties with AAEM.

X. AAEM Update Mailing

Dr. McNamara reminded the Board that we had budgeted for an AAEM Update to be sent to all board certified emergency physicians. The Update will be sent this summer and will focus on the CHW victory in California.

XI. On-Line CME

Dr. McNamara reported that the first on-line CME credits had been made available to AAEM members. As our ACCME accreditation application states, the Executive Committee is the body responsible for CME programming in AAEM.

Dr. O'Leary raised concerns over the on-line CME approved process and staff time costs associated with this project. After reviewing the approval process and staff involvement in this process, the Board felt comfortable that the proper procedures had been followed. Dr. O'Leary reminded the Board to be cognizant of the issues that had been discussed when planning and approving future CME programs.

XII. New Business

Dr. McNamara reported that AAEM had been asked to participate in a conference sponsored by the National Domestic Preparedness Office in August. Due to the short time frame involved, the names of several possible AAEM representatives were discussed. Once the availability of possible candidates is known, a representative will be chosen.

Dr. Barsky noted that AAEM may be approached by the organizing committee of a conference to be held in Southern India to request AAEM's participation in that meeting.

Dr. Kazzi reported that the Resident Section continues work on the Student Rules of the Road. This publication will be complete this Fall.

There being no further business, the conference call meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Kay Whalen
Organizational Director