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Board Meeting Minutes
American Academy of Emergency Medicine IN ATTENDANCE: Robert McNamara, MD; Joseph Wood, MD; Drew Fenton, MD; Howard Blumstein, MD; William Durkin, Jr., MD; Gregory Hall, DO; Antoine Kazzi, MD; Christopher Minas, MD; Margaret O'Leary, MD; Tom Scaletta, MD; George Schwartz, MD; Tobey Williams, MD; Leslie Zun, MD. Staff: Eric Lanke and Kay Whalen Dr. McNamara welcomed everyone to the call and drew the Board's attention to the first agenda item. I. Approval of June 21, 2000 Board Conference Call Meeting Minutes Dr. Wood moved and Dr. O'Leary seconded that the minutes of the June 21, 2000 Board of Directors conference call meeting be approved. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. II. President's Report Dr. McNamara reported that an AAEM member, Bill Durston, MD, had expressed interest in an AAEM position statement on firearms injury prevention. Dr. McNamara then appointed Dr. Durston to chair an AAEM task force on firearms injury prevention. The task force is charged with drafting a position statement on this issue for Board approval. Next, Dr. McNamara reminded the Board that AAEM had asked ABEM to release their mailing list to us since AAEM fully supported ABEM's mission. During their July Board meeting, ABEM approved our request. Ms. Whalen is working with the company that maintains this database to determine the cost of obtaining this list. Dr. McNamara asked staff to draft a letter to ABEM thanking them for their decision. Dr. McNamara then asked the Board if they had seen the 3-page letter that Michael Rapp, MD, had sent to all EM residents. The letter informed residents that ACEP had policies that closely mirrored AAEM's Mission Statement, but did not mention AAEM by name. Although Dr. McNamara did not believe that the letter merited a direct response, he asked staff to distribute this letter to the Board and asked the Board to provide feedback to him. Next, Dr. McNamara drew the Board's attention to the bill for minority healthcare issues that had been distributed by e-mail. Dr. Fenton moved and Dr. Kazzi seconded that AAEM endorse this bill. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. Ms. Whalen will communicate this decision to James Thorne. III. AAEM Position Statement on Mandatory Error Reporting Dr. Fenton moved and Dr. Kazzi seconded that the position statement on Mandatory Error Reporting be approved. Discussion then ensued. Dr. Minas was opposed to any mandatory error reporting. Other discussion resulted in several deletions due to redundancy. Dr. Kazzi moved and Dr. Wood seconded that the sentence, "Mechanisms should be user- friendly and time-efficient." be added to the bullet which begins, "Clearly established description of the mechanisms should be to report . . ." MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. Dr. McNamara moved and Dr. Fenton seconded that another bullet point which reads, "An analysis of medical errors that also evaluates the board certification status of the physician," should be added. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. Dr. McNamara then moved and Dr. O'Leary seconded that "Physicians should be involved in identifying the type of errors to be reported and in the development of the data registry." should be added to the first bullet. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. The Board then returned to the original motion which now reads: AAEM Position Statement on Mandatory Error Reporting The American Academy of Emergency medicine (AAEM) supports a national mandatory error reporting system that includes legal liability protections and the following other additional safeguards:
MOTION PASSED 11-1. The Executive Committee and staff will be responsible for publicizing this issue. IV. 2001 Scientific Assembly Update Dr. Blumstein reported that he was busy confirming speakers for the 2001 Scientific Assembly. He noted that this year's Assembly featured 3-hour blocks in which single topics were discussed. He was especially excited about the unionization session on Sunday. Dr. McNamara asked any Board members who had suggestions for speakers on the topics identified in the agenda book to contact Dr. Blumstein as soon as possible. V. AAEM State Chapters D & O Insurance Ms. Whalen reported that she had been asked to obtain quotes for a D & O Insurance policy that would cover all of AAEM's state chapters. The quote of $1,835 included in the agenda packet was the lowest quote for the most coverage. Dr. O'Leary noted that although she believes that AAEM should buy the policy, the Board needs to remember that many of this year's expenditures were not included in the budget. Dr. Blumstein moved and Dr. O'Leary seconded that AAEM purchase the proposed D & O insurance policy for AAEM state chapters. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. VI. AAEM Services Update Dr. McNamara summarized the recent developments in AAEM Services. As the Board authorized, AAEM engaged the services of a consultant, Bill Kottmann, to make recommendations to the Executive Committee regarding the structure of AAEM Services. Mr. Kottmann advised that AAEM purchase Dr. David Moss' share of AAEM Services, which is also acceptable to Dr. Moss. Dr. Moss will then serve as an independent vendor to AAEM Services. The next step in this process is to determine the appropriate responsibilities and revenue split for the AAEM template project. This issue is currently being addressed by all parties involved including AAEM, FreeChart and Dr. Moss and should be resolved shortly. Mr. Kottmann will be submitting a written report to the AAEM Executive Committee. VII. AAEM/eMedicine Possible Conflict of Interest Dr. McNamara then reminded the Board that an AAEM member was concerned that the AAEM Board had not followed the proper procedure regarding conflict of interest when AAEM and eMedicine decided to produce a text for the lay public on the Internet. The Board had agreed that we have an outside party review AAEM's decision-making process on this issue. An outside party reviewed the facts and decided that appropriate attention had been given to this decision by the Board. The AAEM Executive Committee will determine if this opinion should be posted on the web. VIII. Strategic Plan Update In the interest of time, and since most of the reports submitted for the Strategic Plan update were informational in nature, the only strategic planning issue discussed was the recommendation to dissolve the Preferred Specialty Society Committee. Due to the fact that AAEM will become the preferred specialty society by achieving its other strategic planning goals, Dr. Kazzi moved and Dr. Fenton seconded that the Preferred Specialty Society Ad Hoc Committee be dissolved. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. IX. AAEM Proposed Finance and Audit Committee Function Next, the Board turned its attention to the proposed function of a newly created AAEM Finance and Audit Committee. Dr. O'Leary stated that the broad function of the Committee would be to gather financial data which would be given to the AAEM Executive Committee and the Board. This would allow decisions with financial implications to be made more readily. Dr. O'Leary moved and Dr. Fenton seconded that the Board adopt the proposed functions of the Finance and Audit Committee. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. X. Posting Minutes on AAEM Website Dr. McNamara had received a request from an AAEM member that the minutes from the Board meetings be posted on the website. Dr. McNamara moved and Dr. Fenton seconded that from this point forward, approved minutes of AAEM Board meetings be posted on the AAEM website. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. Dr. McNamara moved and Dr. Fenton seconded that the approved minutes of the June 21, 2000 Board of Directors conference call be posted on the AAEM website. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY. XI. AMA Application Ms. Whalen noted that the Board had discussed via e-mail the possibility of becoming a member of the Specialty and Service Society (SSS) of the AMA. AAEM's previous application had been rejected due to the fact that not enough AAEM voting members were also AMA members. The AAEM Executive Committee had already instructed staff to reapply for AMA membership in the SSS. XII. AAEM/ACEP Joint Task Force Resolution Dr. McNamara moved and Dr. Fenton seconded that AAEM adopt the resolution included in the agenda packet asking that AAEM and ACEP work closely together to secure the future of the individual specialist in EM. Dr. Kazzi moved and Dr. Wood seconded that the paragraph which reads, "such a task force be bound by the AAEM Vision Statement: Blueprint for Securing Emergency Medicine's Future and the AAEM Mission Statement", also include "the CAL/ACEP Emergency Physicians Bill of Rights." Dr. Fenton moved and Dr. Hall seconded that the phrase "AAEM endorsed" be inserted before "the CAL/ACEP Emergency Physicians Bill of Rights" in Dr. Kazzi's motion. MOTION FAILED 4-8. Dr. Scaletta then moved and Dr. O'Leary seconded that AAEM's endorsement of the CAL/ACEP Bill of Rights be footnoted. MOTION PASSED 11-1. The previous motion adding the CAL/ACEP Bill of Rights was then voted on. MOTION PASSED 11-1. Dr. Minas then moved and Dr. Blumstein seconded that the phrase "including an organizational merger" be deleted. MOTION FAILED 4-8. The Board then returned to the original motion to adopt the resolution included in the agenda book which now reads: RESOLVED, that the American Academy of Emergency Medicine offer to participate in a joint task force with the American College of Emergency Physicians regarding the future of Emergency Medicine; and be it further RESOLVED, that the representatives of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine in such a task force be bound by the American Academy of Emergency Medicine Vision Statement: Blueprint for Securing Emergency Medicine's Future, the AAEM Mission Statement and the CAL/ACEP Emergency Physicians Bill of Rights1; and be it further RESOLVED, that the American Academy of Emergency Medicine will be open to all possibilities that will secure the future welfare of the individual specialist in Emergency Medicine including an organizational merger. 1 Endorsed by AAEM on March 9, 2000 Board of Directors conference call. MOTION PASSED 11-1. XIII. JEM Associate Editor Position Dr. McNamara then informed the Board that a replacement for one of AAEM's JEM Associate Editors, Jonathan Adler, MD, needed to be found. The Board agreed that AAEM solicit its membership for possible candidates. XIV. Common Sense Distribution The Board then discussed the possibility of providing one copy of Common Sense to all residents as a membership recruitment tool. It was agreed that the upcoming issue of Common Sense should be sent to all EM residents along with a letter asking them to join AAEM. XV. New Business Dr. Kazzi then informed the Board that he was continuing discussion with the European Society of Emergency Medicine (EuSEM). He and Mr. Lanke had prepared a draft agreement and budget for the two societies to consider. The EuSEM will be meeting in early September. At that time, they will decide if they would like to continue to discuss the collaborative meeting. Dr. McNamara asked staff to forward the preliminary budget information to the Executive Committee. He also noted that due to the fiscal implications of this meeting, he felt that the Board should discuss AAEM's approval of this venture during the October meeting. There being no further business, Dr. Hall moved and Dr. Zun seconded that the conference call meeting be adjourned. Respectfully submitted,
Kay Whalen |
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