State Chapters
CAL/AAEM Update

Celebrating the Success of our Strategy of Collaboration

by Antoine Kazzi, MD, FAAEM

Scientific Assembly Updates
In this update, CAL/AAEM wishes to invite all members of national AAEM to take advantage of a heavily discounted CME activity and outstanding educational activity. Join us on June 7-9, 2001, for the free CAL/AAEM-CAL/ACEP Business Forum and for the CAL/ACEP Scientific Assembly.

All CAL/AAEM and national AAEM members are invited to attend the upcoming June 2001 CAL/ACEP 3-day Annual Scientific Assembly for a nominal fee of $100 (in lieu of the standard $250). For AAEM members who maintain an ACEP membership, the fee is further reduced to $50.

The CAL/ACEP Scientific Assembly is on June 7-9, 2001, at the Westin in Santa Clara, California. AAEM members who wish to take advantage of the discounted rates should pre-register with Sheila Virgin by calling 1-800-SEK-ACEP or by e-mailing CAL/ACEP at calacep@worldnet.att.net.

In return, AAEM is inviting all CAL/ACEP members to its 4-day March 14-17, 2002 AAEM Scientific Assembly at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco, California, for the same discounted $100 rate. CAL/ACEP members can obtain meeting information by e-mailing or calling 1-877-4CA-AAEM.

The First Mediterranean EM Congress:
In addition, AAEM is inviting all CAL/ACEP members to its September 2-5, 2001, EuSEM-AAEM First Mediterranean EM Congress in Stresa, Italy, for the same discounted registration ($250) fee required from AAEM members. See the separate CaJEM article on the topic or go to www.mafservizi.it/stresa2001.

The First CAL/AAEM-CAL/ACEP Business Forum
Last but not least, CAL/AAEM and CAL/ACEP are proud to present the first jointly sponsored forum focusing on the business of Emergency Medicine: Physician Equity, Exit Strategies, Labor Laws and Group Citizenship in Emergency Medicine.

This will be held on Thursday June 7, 2001, from 2:00pm-5:00pm in the Westin Hotel in Santa Clara, as a non-fee course during the 2001 CAL/ACEP Scientific Assembly. It will therefore be free to all CAL/ACEP, CAL/AAEM and AAEM members.

It will consist of two consecutive panel discussions that will bring together a number of California and national leaders to address some of the most important and controversial practice issues in EM.

In a rapidly changing health care industry, words such as "exit strategies" and "horizontal and vertical integration" are often obscure and controversial. "Equity" in a group is the objective of most emergency physicians. However, it often remains a concept, to some even a myth, in need for a predefined equitable formula. Recent emergency physician bills of rights and vision statements have been widely endorsed. How to take such position statements from concept to practice remains an issue of strong and divisive debate. How can we actually implement the principles of fairness and equitable practice arrangements? Should our professional societies take an active part promoting one form of practice over another? Concerns are abundant and diverse: job security, quality of patient care, income, physician autonomy.

Session One:
Emergency Medicine Practice Profiles in California: Description, Rights, Responsibilities and the Value of Citizenship in Your Group

Moderators:
Michael Bresler, MD, FACEP, Past ACEP Council Speaker and CAL/ACEP Past-President

Antoine Kazzi, MD, FAAEM, FACEP - CAL/AAEM President, CAL/ACEP and AAEM Board of Directors, Associate Chief of EM at the University of California, Irvine

Invited Panelists:
Daniel Higgins, MD, FACEP, FAAEM, CAL/ACEP Past-President - Single contract employer

Joseph Wood, MD, JD, FAAEM, AAEM Vice President and Chair of EM at Christ Hospital in Chicago - Lawyer and Academician

Employer-Employee model in large EP management corporation or group

William Durkin, MD, FAAEM, AAEM Board of Directors and CAL/AAEM Secretary-Treasurer - Independent contractor model in a management corporation or single group

Howard Davis, MD, FACEP, FAAEM, Board of Directors, CAL/ACEP and CAL/AAEM - Partnership of individual corporations model

Wesley Curry, MD, FACEP, FAAEM, CAL/ACEP Past-President and President of California Emergency Physicians (CEP) - Large multi-ED contract partnership

Session Two:
Physician Equity, Exit Strategies, Group Citizenship, and the Role of Professional Societies in Emergency Medicine

Moderator:
A. Antoine Kazzi, MD, FAAEM, FACEP

Invited Panelists:
Ramon Johnson, MD, FACEP, CAL/ACEP Board of Directors and Past-President

Paul Kivela, MD, FACEP, CAL/ACEP Board of Directors

Joseph Wood, MD, JD, FAAEM, AAEM Vice President and Chair of EM at Christ Hospital in Chicago - Lawyer and Academician

Richard Stennes, MD, MBA, FACEP, ACEP and CAL/ACEP Past-President

Michael Bresler, MD, FACEP, Past ACEP Council Speaker and CAL/ACEP Past-President

Each session of the forum will last 60 minutes and will be followed by a 20-minute question and answer session. There will be a 20-minute break.

Such a strategy has been a win-win for all California emergency physicians, providing them with additional benefits and educational opportunities of the highest quality. Join us in all these annual events and let us celebrate Emergency Medicine. Support the continuing success in the proactive and constructive collaboration between our specialty societies in California.

CAL/AAEM is the California State Chapter of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine, 26500 West Agoura Road, Suite 680, Calabasas, CA 91302, Toll Free: (877) 422-2236, Fax (414) 276-3349. Their president, Dr. Antoine Kazzi, can be reached by e-mail at akazzi@attglobal.net.