State Chapters
CAL/AAEM

Steven C. Gabaeff, MD FAAEM - Candidate for CAL/AAEM Board of Directors

Biographical information
I, Steven C. Gabaeff, M.D., am a Board Certified Emergency Medicine Specialist who has been active in clinical medicine, health care informatics, health care system planning, managed care and forensic medicine throughout my 27 years in medicine. I am running for Board of Directors member. I graduated from UCLA Medical School in 1975. With only a limited number of residencies available then, I became Board Certified via the practice tract in 1983. I was re-certified in 1994. I have been in practice for 27 years and currently working as an attending physician in the Emergency Department at the Long Beach VA Hospital in Orange County, California.

Always involved in patient care and health care administration, I have held various positions including ED Medical Director, Assistant ED Medical Director, Financial Director, Paramedic Coordinator and Medical Director of an indigent healthcare community clinic in a Federally Underserved Area supervising 25 employees. I have extensive experience with mid level providers and physician extenders and leveraging scarce medical resources to serve increased number of patients through innovative patient care protocols and program development. In the hospital environment, I coordinated physician input into hospital facilities planning. Presentation and coordination with various boards and task forces. Participation in governmental committees and task forces promoting improved patient care and policies. Worked with legal authorities and elected officials on sensitive abuse issues.

As principal of Health Care Information Systems, a medical information technology firm from 1985 to 1998, I directly responsible for company's PointCare product, a robust clinical documentation tool designed to serve the full spectrum of point of care data collection scenarios. PointCare was designed to access, present, process, store and transfer patient information for clinical and operational analysis and to meet the evolving demands placed on providers and health care systems by federal regulations with respect to patient care and medical records.

I developed standard of care models and clinical algorithms for the entire primary care clinical spectrum including the study and incorporation of ANSI 12, SNOMED, ICD and CPT coding systems into a proprietary Clinical Object Medical Expression Directory (COMED). I personally programmed a Vaccination and Health Planner for primary care providers that validates and schedules all health maintenance activities including the complicated application of a rule set created by the American Academy of Pediatrics for immunizations.

In the past I have worked with two leading health facilities architectural firms to create a larger, more organic, architectural format for Emergency Department's (ED). Focused on the evolution of the ED into a more robust and efficient clinical environment. I worked as a liaison between the architectural team and the hospital's executive committee, administration and the hospital foundation, including numerous presentations to build consensus. Subsequently, worked as a consultant to Stanford University's Emergency Department with the same firms, to develop a computer simulation of the entire ED operation at Stanford that was used as a resource-planning tool.

As Associate Medical Director for two health maintenance organizations performed utilization reviews, participated in QA and wrote QA policies and procedures. Interacted with physician providers and mid-level providers to develop cost effective care plans and improve relations between these organizations and providers.

As a forensic specialist and member of the American Academy of Legal Medicine, I have been a forensic expert in over 550 cases, primarily criminal cases. I have employed standard of care knowledge, analysis, strategic planning, writing, graphics presentations and the authoritative speaking skills to perform is this difficult and challenging area of medicine.

I have lectured and made presentations to allied professional in my areas of expertise.

After authoring two chapters in the American Academy of Emergency Medicine's (AAEM) on-line guide Emergency Medicine, I was appointed Co-Medical Editor for the guide and subsequently appointed to the AAEM's Medical Documentation Template Editorial Board.

I am currently writing two chapters for the Lippincott Williams & Wilkins 5-Minute Consult series on issues related to the child abuse and sexual assault.

Regarding my financial interests in Emergency Medicine, I remain active in forensic sciences and the efforts to adopt information technology although I am currently not involved in any formal business activities related to informatics.

Platform statement
My goals as a member of the Board would include enthusiastic participation in the political activism that has done so much to improve emergency patient care in California and the plight of emergency physicians. I would seek to continue the work started by our colleague Dr. Bob McNamara at national AAEM and the continuing efforts by our own CAL-AAEM.

I would use my business background to advocate accurate and compelling cost analysis for patient care and ED operations to be used as a basis for the presentation of CAL-AAEM positions to legislators. These efforts would be designed to create the foundation for fair and informed policies to be used to determine reimbursement for emergency care and other legislation related to emergency medicine.

I would lend added emphasis to the role of information technology in Emergency Medicine and try to increase the role that CAL-AAEM can play in promoting the adoption of effective technology strategies that would improve patient care. These efforts would include promoting support by CAL-AAEM for those cognitive strategies designed and proven to support physician activities and documentation.

I would also extend effort to promote the development and implementation of any number of artificial intelligence tools to reduce medical errors and elevate patient care in different emergency environments.

I would also advocate a regularly published technology update in the CAL-AAEM newsletter to keep the members apprised of emerging trends in technology and tools that are used to enhance clinical and operation performance.

I would advocate and help facilitate the creation of a web site for CAL-AAEM, help define its function with the assistance of the membership and the Board.

Advocacy of development and deployment of documentation standards that are reflected in the AAEM Template Product would be a priority to facilitate resident education, to more effectively manage the use of mid-level providers in the ED and support documentation and the flow of information between all providers and institutions.

In summary I believe my diverse background can add a seasoned perspective to the various challenges that we face and I look forward to adding some new perspective, energy and direction to the excellent work that has occurred in the past.

I thank Dr. Antione Kazzi for his nomination and the opportunity to serve.