Statements

Healthcare Delivery
  • Statement on Preserving Educational and Career Opportunities for Physicians in Emergency Medicine
    The American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) recently released a public statement in response to an announcement that a nurse practitioner was accepted into an Emergency Medicine Ultrasound Fellowship program.  We were specifically responding to the original statement by the program which whe …

    Credentialing & Qualifications, Healthcare Delivery, Position Statements

  • AAEM Comments on Draft Merger Guidelines
    Dear Attorney General Garland and Chair Khan: On behalf of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM), thank you for the opportunity to comment on the draft update of the Merger Guidelines, issued on July 19, 2023. AAEM was established in 1993 to promote fair and equitable practice enviro …

    AAEM Letters, Healthcare Delivery

  • AAEM’s Statement in Response to American Physician Partners (APP)
    American Physician Partners (APP) recently announced they are ceasing business operations by the end of the month. Their announcement on July 17th gives hospitals and physicians only two weeks to ensure continued care for patients. This is reckless, unethical, and simply dangerous.  This is on …

    Healthcare Delivery, Other

  • Joint Letter to Dr. Sreekanth Chaguturu on Recent Clinical Policy Bulletin
    Dear Dr. Chaguturu, It has come to our attention that Aetna has published a clinical policy bulletin (Policy #0952, www.aetna.com/cpb/medical/data/900_999/0952.html) on the medical necessity for ultrasound guidance on certain procedures. We have many concerns about the document as outlined below …

    Healthcare Delivery, Joint Letters

  • Joint Statement Against Criminalization of Medical Errors
    Like all members of the medical community, we at the American College of Medical Toxicology, American Academy of Emergency Medicine, and American Academy of Clinical Toxicology were saddened to learn of the tragic death of a patient in Tennessee due to a medical error. A nurse at Vanderbilt Univers …

    EM Workforce, Healthcare Delivery, Joint Statements

  • UnitedHealthcare Retroactive Denial of Emergency Care and the Prudent Layperson Standard
    Vicki Norton MD FAAEM, AAEM Board of DirectorsSaba Rizvi, MD FAAEM AAEM recognizes UnitedHealthcare’s deferment of their dangerous and ill-advised policy to limit patients seeking emergency care. Patients who fear they are having a true emergency should not be deterred from going to the eme …

    Healthcare Delivery, Public Policy Statements

  • AAEM Position Statement on Use of Self-Supplied PPE
    AAEM believes that emergency physicians are entitled to wear self-supplied PPE including respirators that meet NIOSH standards when, in their medical opinion, hospital or healthcare facility supplied PPE is inadequate. AAEM will offer support to any emergency physician threatened or terminated f …

    Healthcare Delivery, Position Statements

  • Emergency Treatment and Discharge of Patients with Psychiatric and Social Problems
    AAEM endorses the following points regarding the emergency treatment and discharge of patients with psychiatric and/or social problems: AAEM believes that all ED patients should be discharged under conditions that are safe and account for their personal dignity. AAEM encourages communities to es …

    Healthcare Delivery, Position Statements

  • AAEM Position Statement on Follow-Up Care
    Position Statement: Emergency Physicians are Not Responsible for Providing Routine Follow-Up Care and Screening It is the position of The American Academy of Emergency Medicine that follow-up care is beyond the scope of practice of emergency physicians and that care in the Emergency Depar …

    Healthcare Delivery, Position Statements

  • AAEM Position Statement on Threat of Violence to Hospital or Emergency Department
    It is AAEM’s position that physicians at work in an emergency department should be notified in real time as soon as a threat of violence to their hospital or emergency department becomes known.   Approved: 9/14/16  

    Healthcare Delivery, Position Statements

  • Emergency Services Reimbursement Provisions in the Patient Protections and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)
    The American Academy of Emergency Medicine opposes the emergency services reimbursement provisions outlined in the interim final rule of the Patient Protections and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that sets insurer compensation rates for out-of-network providers of emergency services.  Emergency d …

    Healthcare Delivery, Position Statements

  • Emergency Services Reimbursement Provisions in the Patient Protections and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)
    The American Academy of Emergency Medicine opposes the emergency services reimbursement provisions outlined in the interim final rule of the Patient Protections and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that sets insurer compensation rates for out-of-network providers of emergency services.  Emergency de …

    Healthcare Delivery, Position Statements

  • AAEM Position Statement on Hospital Admission Inducements
    The American Academy of Emergency Medicine discourages the practice of setting admission goals or admission rates for emergency department patients. The Academy further discourages inducements from hospitals or other interested parties meant to encourage or enforce these admission goals. Such induce …

    Healthcare Delivery, Position Statements

  • Freestanding Emergency Departments
    Freestanding emergency departments (FSED) have the potential to address several intractable problems in emergency medicine, especially overcrowding and lack of access to emergency care, a loss of autonomy for emergency physicians, and widespread violation of emergency physician practice rights at ho …

    Healthcare Delivery, Position Statements

  • Updated AAEM Position Statement on Emergency Medical Services (2005)
    The American Academy of Emergency Medicine believes that patients requiring emergency care need universal access to both high quality pre-hospital and emergency department based medical care. AAEM recognizes the vocation of pre-hospital medicine to include patient advocacy and transportation of pati …

    Healthcare Delivery, Position Statements

  • The Primary Responsibility of the Emergency Physician is the Care of Patients within the ED
    In some medical institutions, due to limited physician coverage, the emergency physician is required to respond to various in-hospital (out-of-ED) situations. This is particularly true during evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays. In those institutions with single emergency physician coverage, r …

    Healthcare Delivery, Position Statements

  • Board of Directors to Consider Policy Regarding In-House Coverage
    by Howard Blumstein, MD FAAEM and Raymond Roberge MD MPH FAAEM Based on a suggestion from an AAEM member, we have begun to develop a policy statement regarding coverage of emergencies involving patients who are already in the hospital. The reality is that in many small hospitals there is little hig …

    Healthcare Delivery, Position Statements

  • Position Statement on Admission Orders
    WHEREAS typical emergency physicians do not provide practice inpatient medicine; WHEREAS admitted patients benefit by one primary physician orchestrating a treatment plan and by these orders being scrutinized by the nurse that will initiate those orders; WHEREAS emergency department nurses, due to …

    Healthcare Delivery, Position Statements

  • AAEM Position Statement on Managed Care
    AAEM is committed to provide for all patients needing emergency care by each and every emergency department without regard to economic ability, insurance or payor status. Emergency physicians provide this care 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and the AAEM calls upon employers, third party payers and …

    Healthcare Delivery, Position Statements