Board Meeting Minutes

American Academy of Emergency Medicine
Minutes of Board of Directors Conference Call
November 13, 2006

In Attendance:  Tom Scaletta, MD; Larry Weiss, MD, JD; Howard Blumstein, MD; Joseph Wood, MD, JD; Robert McNamara, MD; Anthony DeMond, MD; Stephen Hayden, MD; James Li, MD; Kevin Rodgers, MD; Andy Walker, MD; Mark Reiter, MD; Brian Potts, MD. Absent: Tracy Boykin, MD; David Kramer, MD; Richard Shih, MD. Staff: Kay Whalen and Janet Wilson.

Dr. Scaletta welcomed everyone to the call and turned the board’s attention to the first agenda item.

Approval of September 11, 2006 Minutes

Dr. Scaletta asked if there were any changes or corrections to the minutes included in the agenda materials. There being none, Dr. Blumstein moved and Dr. Rodgers seconded that the September 11, 2006 board of directors conference call minutes be approved as drafted.  MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

President’s Report

Dr. Scaletta reported that he had recently spoken at Beth Israel, Long Island Jewish and Cook County where he debated Dr. Nicholas Jouriles, secretary-treasurer of ACEP. He is also scheduled to speak at North Shore Jewish, Ohio State and Tucson. Six other residency programs have contacted the office to schedule residency visits.

Dr. Scaletta had attended the IOM meeting and reported on the effects of fee-splitting on the quality of patient care. A letter has also been sent to the OIG on this issue.

The new AAEM templates are currently under review by both the reimbursement committee and the practice guidelines committee. We have a draft contract with EvolveMed for the new templates and it is currently under legal review.

Dr. Scaletta had attended another nurse staffing meeting at the ENA.

The EM Working Group has been dissolved. AAEM now has the opportunity to invite the organizations to the Scientific Assembly in Las Vegas. The president of the osteopathic association is in support of this.

SAEM had asked for an AAEM representative to the 2007 AEM Consensus Conference on Knowledge Translation. Dr. Scaletta had appointed Dr. Scott Sherman to this.

AAEM, ACEP and ENA continue to work together on JCAHO issues.

Dr. Scaletta reminded the board that AAEM had issued a statement against the non-ABMS board of disaster medicine. NAEMSP has just issued a similar statement. ACEP’s position is still pending.

Treasurer’s Report

Dr. Blumstein reviewed the September financial statements and noted that AAEM is financially sound. We have collected more in membership dues than was budgeted, so we had a corresponding increase in unbudgeted related expenses.

Next, Dr. Blumstein reviewed the draft 2007 budget. Dr. DeMond questioned the budgeted income for the Scientific Assembly. Ms. Whalen noted that she would change that budgeted line item to $110,000.

Dr. Blumstein reported that the 2005 audit noted the need for a capital assets policy. Dr. Blumstein then moved and Dr. Li seconded that the following be adopted:

AAEM Capital Assets Policy

Expenditures for all items that fit the definition of a capital asset will be capitalized.  All capital assets will initially be recorded at cost and depreciation will be recorded over the capital asset's useful life in accordance with established accounting principles and practices.  Capital assets are real property that have a value equal to or greater than the capitalization threshold for the particular classification of the asset and have an estimated life of greater than one year.  The capitalization threshold for capitalizing operating equipment assets (e.g., LCD projectors) is $1,000.

MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

Next, Dr. McNamara moved and Dr. Blumstein seconded that the 2007 draft budget be adopted with the modification of the Scientific Assembly income line item.  MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

Executive Director’s Report

Ms. Whalen reminded the board that those physicians joining AAEM after October 1st were considered paid members for 2007. As of November 7th, AAEM has 72 new full voting members.

MEMC Update

Ms. Whalen stated that she was happy to report that we had come to a tentative agreement with the Sorrento Hilton to hold the 4th MEMC in Sorrento, Italy from September 15-19, 2007. The pre-conference courses will take place on the Jewish holidays, but the Congress itself does not. At Dr. Scaletta’s suggestion, the planning committee has begun researching 2009 dates so that this conflict will not occur in 2009.

Dr. Hayden asked if there would be an AAEM board meeting held in conjunction with the Congress. Ms. Whalen replied that it was her understanding that it would not be. If a board meeting is held in conjunction with the Congress, it will be held at the end of the Congress.

CPOM Update

Dr. McNamara reported that the Texas case is still in the deposition stage due to the trial schedule of the attorney.

The Pennsylvania Medical Society had reviewed the information that AAEM had provided to them and decided not to pursue this case. They did not believe that this would be the best test case on this issue.

Dr. Weiss reported that he has almost completed a draft letter for a case in Maryland. He will circulate this to the executive committee.

Benchmarks for CT Utilization

After discussion, it was decided to have the practice guidelines committee review the draft position statement on CT utilization.

tPA Education Tools

The board then discussed the tPA risk analysis that had been included in the agenda materials. The paper will be sent to experts in this area for review and will be brought back to the board.

Sponsorship – Revenue to Chapters

Ms. Whalen asked for the board’s guidance as to whether or not AAEM chapters would be able to solicit exhibitors for the Scientific Assembly and use those funds for chapter purposes. Since the AAEM Scientific Assembly exhibit hall does sell out, AAEM would lose revenue. The board did not feel this would be appropriate.

Critical Care Section Approval

Ms. Whalen reminded the board that there had been questions regarding the Critical Care Section’s draft bylaws. Since it was extremely beneficial to include this section in the 2007 dues mailings, she asked the board to approve of this section in concept. Dr. Scaletta moved and Dr. Hayden seconded that the Critical Care Section be approved in concept with the actual bylaws to be approved at a future date.  MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

Mission Statement – Informatics Committee

The informatics committee has asked the board to approve its mission statement. Dr. Scaletta moved and Dr. McNamara seconded that the following mission statement be approved:

The Mission of the AAEM Informatics Subcommittee

Informatics should be a service to the clinician and patient. This committee will participate in efforts to use informatics to enhance patient care and safety. Informatics is also a key to training and certifying the skills of physicians – the committee will cooperate with efforts to develop tools for emergency medicine education. Finally, information is critical to the livelihood of the emergency physician –this committee will support efforts to use information systems to better track income and performance by individual physicians.

MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

FAAEM

Ms. Whalen reported that she had been asked by AAEM members if they would be allowed to use the “FAAEM” designation if they did not maintain their board certification. The board reaffirmed their position that ABEM/AOBEM certification must be maintained. Ms. Whalen will draft language for Dr. Scaletta’s review regarding this.

IFEM Membership

After discussion, the board felt that the international committee should provide a recommendation as to whether or not AAEM should seek affiliate member status in IFEM.

New Business

It was decided that Dr. David Wagner will be honored at the opening reception during the Scientific Assembly.

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

Respectfully submitted,

Kay Whalen
Executive Director