Contract Issues

Emergency Medicine employment contracts are an area of great concern to AAEM and emergency physicians. In its mission statement, AAEM clearly states its support for fair and equitable practice environments necessary to allow the specialist in Emergency Medicine to deliver the highest quality of patient care. Such an environment includes provisions for due process and the absence of restrictive covenants. Unfortunately, many EM contracts today ask physicians to waive their rights to due process, include restrictions against re-employment in the same community, and include other abuses detrimental to the professional and personal welfare of the working emergency physician.

In reaction to these factors, and at the general request of our membership, AAEM has adopted the following contract guidelines for emergency physicians.

• AAEM Contract Guidelines for Emergency Physicians 

Other recent activities in AAEM's fight to secure better practice environments for emergency physicians are listed below.

• Robert McNamara Rhode Island Affidavit (added 6/7/05)
• Louisiana Supreme Court Limits Restrictive Covenants (added 6/5/02)
• Contracts 101: Employment at Will/Good Faith and Fair Dealing (added 11/12/01)
• The JCAHO Responds--Supporting Rights of Due Process (Nov/Dec 1999)
• Percentage of Fees Taken Makes Florida PPM Contract Illegal (Sep/Oct 1999)
• AAEM Files Amici Curiae Brief in Support of EPs (Sep/Oct 1999)
• AAEM Alerts the JCAHO to the Dangers of EM Contracts (Sep/Oct 1999)
• AAEM/EMRA Hold 3rd Annual Contracts Workshop at SAEM Annual Meeting (July/Aug 1999)
• AAEM/EMRA Hold 2nd Annual Contracts Workshop at SAEM Annual Meeting (Summer 1998)
• AMA Passes Resolutions Against Termination Without Cause and For Physician Review of Billings (Spring 1998)