AAEM Submits Written Testimony on Ebola Outbreak to House Subcommittee

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Written Testimony of Mark Reiter, MD MBA FAAEM, president, American Academy of Emergency Medicine submitted for the record to U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, October 16, 2014.

Chairman Murphy, Ranking Member DeGette and members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide comments on your hearing focusing on the Ebola outbreak and efforts by the U.S. Government and our health care system to identify, treat, and protect the public health from this infectious disease.

The American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) is the specialty society of board certified emergency physicians, representing 8,000 members across the country. Whether it is an athlete suffering from a broken bone, an infant struggling to breathe, a victim struggling to survive a gunshot wound, or a patient dealing with debilitating symptoms from an infectious disease, our emergency physicians serve on the front lines everyday combating life threating conditions. Our emergency physicians, nurses, and medical support teams provide this type of care in often overcrowded, underfunded, and overburdened systems. A typical emergency department (ED) could see 100 patients a day while a more populated one could see 300. According to the CDC, in 2010 the number of visits to an ED was 129.8 million. This number continues to increase. Despite the well-intended efforts of the Affordable Care Act to direct non-critical and non-emergency patients to primary care providers, Americans frequently still choose EDs as their first option for care. EDs are, in particular, a first point of care for many immigrants and travelers who seek treatment in the United States.
Like many Americans, we are saddened by the toll Ebola has taken on the lives of many in West Africa and other countries and now the United States. We share in the concern for our fellow caregivers who appear to have contracted the disease from their efforts to save a now deceased patient. We are proud of our physician colleagues who are battling against Ebola in West Africa under challenging conditions in an effort to save lives and prevent further infections. Unfortunately, this disease poses significant challenges not only to the global health system but to our health system as evidenced recently in Texas, Georgia, and Nebraska.

Save the Date!

VIIIth Mediterranean Emergency Medicine Congress 
September 4-9, 2015
Rome, Italy

More Information Coming Soon

The VIIIth MEMC is jointly organized by the American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM), the Global Research on Acute Conditions Team (GREAT) Network & the Mediterranean Academy of Emergency Medicine (MAEM). In conjuction with the Italian GREAT Network Conference — organized by the GREAT Network.

www.aaem.org/education/memc

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AAEM brings you content from top clinician-educators in EM. The 2014 AAEM Scientific Assembly is the premier clinical conference in emergency medicine. Log-in today to view the 2014 Scientific Assembly online and save the date to join us in Austin in 2015!

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Thank you for being a member of AAEM and for your commitment to quality emergency medicine education. Plan ahead for 2015 and renew your AAEM membership today!

• Use those left over CME funds to extend your AAEM membership into 2015.
   
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For more information or to extend your membership today, please contact us at (800) 884-2236 or email info@aaem.org.

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Update from the President: Progress in California

I have recently participated in several media interviews where I raised AAEM's concerns regarding Tenet Health's plan to replace its independent emergency medicine, hospitalist, and anesthesiology groups in California with a national physician staffing company.

AAEM feels this would be highly disruptive to its hospitals and could compromise quality of care. These media interviews had much exposure in the local press and helped Tenet and the community to better understand our concerns. On September 5th, I participated in a conference call with Tenet Health leadership, an attorney for the Coalition for Quality Hospital Care, and the California ACEP President Dr. Osmundson. During the call, Tenet's leadership informed us they were no longer considering using one national physician staffing company for all of the involved California practices.

In addition, Tenet committed that they would begin contract renewal negotiations with the independent emergency medicine groups staffing its California hospitals, and attempt to partner with them to achieve their goals of better coordinating care across services. We are encouraged by these positive developments. We will continue to work closely with the involved independent emergency medicine groups and monitor this evolving process.

During the call, a position supported by California-ACEP (that it does not favor any physician group practice model over others) was erroneously attributed to AAEM as well (per a follow-up letter from Tenet). AAEM has always endorsed practice models based on fairness, transparency, financial equity, physician autonomy, and the best possible care of patients - qualities that we believe are exemplified by independent, local, democratic, physician-owned medical groups. AAEM responded with a follow-up letter to Tenet Health's Western Region CEO.

Take care,
Mark

Mark Reiter, MD MBA FAAEM
President, American Academy of Emergency Medicine

Austin City, No Limits

www.aaem.org/AAEM15

View from the Podium
Joseph Lex, MD MAAEM FAAEM 

I am excited about what’s happening as we plan our 21st Scientific Assembly, scheduled for February 28 through March 4, 2015 at the Hilton Austin in the Texas Capital. First and foremost, our invited keynote speaker has accepted our invitation to speak. Simon Carley, Professor of Emergency Medicine at Manchester Metropolitan University, Consultant in Emergency Medicine, and co-founder of the BestBets website (www.bestbets.org) and the St. Emlyn’s website (http://stemlynsblog.org) in mythical Virchester will visit with us in Texas. Dr. Carley has published more than 100 papers related to disaster medicine, diagnostics, evidence base medicine, and medical education. He is associate editor of the Emergency Medicine Journal and co-director of the Master of Science in Emergency Medicine program at Manchester Metropolitan University. He will give three talks, including our keynote session on “Evidence, Data, Belief, Denial and Cognitive Delusion: How Do We Really Practice Emergency Medicine.”

The second exciting bit of news is the development of a separate subcommittee to develop the immensely popular pecha kucha (PK) (chit-chat) sessions. The group chair is Joelle Borhart, MD FAAEM, of Georgetown. You may have heard Joelle speak at prior Scientific Assemblies. She is joined by Gentry Wilkerson, MD FAAEM, from the University of Maryland, and the husband-wife team of Zachary Repanshek, MD, and Jennifer Fisher-Repanshek, MD, from Temple University in Philadelphia. Zack was the 2012 AAEM Resident of the Year. The final member is Siavash Sarlati, MD, from LSU/Charity, who was a resident winner of the 2014 YPS Open Microphone Session in New York City.

Message from the President: Coalition for Quality Hospital Care

Dear members,

I wanted to update you on an escalating issue of concern to our members in California and nationwide. As many of you know, AAEM has voiced its strong opposition to Tenet Health's plan to replace emergency medicine, anesthesiology, and hospitalist groups at up to 11 hospitals in California with one out-of-state physician staffing company, using the profitable emergency medicine contracts to eliminate their anesthesiology and hospitalist subsidies (see my recent President's Message on the topic).

In addition, on July 11, I sent a letter to Tenet on behalf of our organization detailing our concerns (PDF). The letter states that AAEM believes Tenet's plan is "bad for Tenet, bad for its hospitals, bad for its physicians, bad for its patients, and likely runs afoul of federal fee-splitting laws and California's corporate practice of medicine laws." If Tenet moves forward with its plan, other hospital networks may be emboldened to take a similar approach in other parts of the country as well.

The leaders of several groups affected by the current scheme have contacted AAEM and asked for our assistance. I have spoken at length with many of these physicians; have sent letters outlining AAEM’s concerns to the relevant hospital leaders, hospital boards, and medical staffs. Recently, a coalition of concerned physicians, the Coalition for Quality Hospital Care, has been formed and has contacted us for assistance - the Coalition seeks to inform as many physicians as possible about this issue and generate more support against Tenet's plan. The Coalition is not asking for monetary contributions - but requests that AAEM members show their support by joining the coalition. The larger the group voicing concern, the greater chance we have to defeat Tenet's plan.

Time is running out for these physician groups. Tenet plans to meet with the chief executives of its California hospitals on August 31st to address this issue and then a decision is expected shortly thereafter. If you would like to show your concern about Tenet's plan, please take a moment and join the coalition at www.coalitionforqualitycare.com. Thank you for your continued attention to this issue.

Sincerely,
Mark Reiter MD MBA FAAEM
President, American Academy of Emergency Medicine

Fluids used in Fluid Resuscitation: "There's Nothing Normal About Normal Saline"

www.aaem.org/publications/podcasts/critical-care-in-emergency-medicine

David Farcy, MD FAAEM FCCM, Chairman, Department of Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical in Miami Beach, Florida, speaks with Peter DeBlieux, MD FAAEM, Professor of Medicine at Louisiana State University Health & Science Center in New Orleans.

In this episode, Drs. Farcy and DeBlieux discuss the fluids used in fluid resuscitation including isotonic crystalloids and albumin.

Or listen on the AAEM website 

Leave your comments below!

Top 5 Reasons to Review for Oral Boards with AAEM

www.aaem.org/oral-board-review

1. Course format simulates, as closely as possible, the oral board certification exam.

2. One-on-one examiner to participant encounters — just like on exam day.

3. Same great course offered in six locations to reduce travel time and cost to participants.

4. Reasonably priced — lunch included each day for all course participants. Breakfast included each day for those who stay at the course site hotel

5. Practice both single AND multiple patient case encounters.

• On ABEM exam day, you'll be tested on seven patient encounters: five single patient cases and two multiple patient cases.

• Over the two days of the AAEM course you will participate in 12 single-case encounters and four multiple-case encounters. That's nine extra case encounters to help you feel confident! 

www.aaem.org/education/oral-board-review-course/register

 

We Asked and You Responded - And Then Some

www.aaem.org/AAEM15

View from the Podium
Joseph Lex, MD MAAEM FAAEM

When we asked via Twitter and email for your input on the 2015 AAEM Scientific Assembly in Austin, Texas (scheduled for February 28–March 4), nearly 40 people responded and gave us more than 75 possible topics and speakers. Now it’s up to the Scientific Assembly Subcommittee to make the hard decisions: what tracks, what topics, what speakers?

Although I was in charge putting together the Scientific Assembly from 2001 through 2006, as AAEM surged to the forefront of education in emergency medicine, a lot has changed since then. New young educators from the third generation of emergency physicians have burst onto the education stage, demonstrating new ways of teaching and learning. The Free Open Access Medical Education (FOAMed) movement has quickly assumed a major role in the day-to-day — and sometimes hour-to-hour — education of emergency practitioners. Shorter didactic session times have become the norm. Adult learning principles such as “Flipping the Classroom” are now common.

Tenet Wants Emergency Physicians to Subsidize the Rest of the Hospital

Mark Reiter, MD MBA FAAEM
AAEM President


AAEM President’s Message: Tenet Wants Emergency Physicians to Subsidize the Rest of the Hospital


Tenet Health, one of the largest hospital networks in the country with 49 hospitals, recently put the contracts out for bid at 11 of its hospitals in California, to replace their emergency medicine (11), anesthesiology (11), and hospitalist (5) groups. Currently, most of the hospitalist contracts and some of the anesthesiology contracts include a subsidy from Tenet, while most of the emergency medicine contracts generate enough revenue through collected professional fees to be entirely self-supporting and quite profitable. According to some of the local groups involved, Tenet made it clear to the large contract management groups (CMGs) it is soliciting that it is looking for a no-subsidy arrangement for all 27 contracts (three specialties at 11 hospitals). Essentially, Tenet wants the profits from the emergency medicine contracts to cover its losses on the hospitalist and anesthesiology contracts. As only the largest CMGs can even hope to staff 27 new contracts at once, it looks like many local emergency medicine, anesthesiology, and hospitalist groups will be tossed out. This situation parallels the hospital-CMG joint ventures I wrote about a few months ago, since it is another attempt by hospitals — like CMGs — to feast on the professional fees of emergency physicians.

In the past, the quality of the care provided by a medical group was of paramount important to the hospital. But for Tenet Health, a for-profit hospital network, it appears that minimizing expenses and maximizing profit trumps everything else. Tenet earned a profit of $387 million in the first quarter of 2014. Perhaps by destroying the medical practices at 11 hospitals, Tenet will be able to cut its hospitalist and anesthesiology subsidies by a few million dollars in future quarters and make its investors happy. Of course, many of these groups have served their hospitals and their communities well for decades and built strong, productive relationships with their medical and nursing staffs. I’ve been told that many hospital CEOs are very supportive of their local medical groups, but the decision to put the contracts out for bid was made at Tenet’s headquarters in Dallas. Tenet’s corporate executives are not so easily swayed by simply providing excellent care — not when there is a chance to squeeze out more profit for investors and corporate officers.

New Podcast: Health Information Exchanges

http://www.aaem.org/publications/podcasts/emergency-physician-advocates

Health Information Exchanges
In this Policy Prescriptions® edition of the podcast, Cedric Dark, MD MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Emergency Medicine Residency Program at Baylor College of Medicine, speaks with Dr. Ellana Stinson, a practicing emergency physician in Boston, MA, and Dr. Jason Shapiro, Associate Professor and Chief of the Division of Informatics in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital. The discussion points include: a review of the article "Does Health Information Exchange Reduce Redundant Imaging?: Evidence from the ED," EMR versus HIEs, regional sizes and accessibility of HIEs.

Read Dr. Stinson's article on the Policy Prescriptions blog: "To scan or not to scan: Can health information exchanges help deter emergency departments from ordering unnecessary imaging tests?"

Or listen on the AAEM website.

Leave your comments below!

Ultrasound Should be Integrated into Undergraduate Medical Education Curriculum

Photo Owned by Ashika Jain, MD

AAEM Clinical Practice Committee Statement
Ultrasound Should be Integrated into Undergraduate Medical Education Curriculum (5/30/2014)

 Visit the Clinical Practice Statement page on the AAEM website.

Chair: Steven Rosenbaum, MD FAAEM

Authors: Lisa D Mills, MD FAAEM
                Zachary Soucy, DO FAAEM

Reviewers: Ashley Bean, MD FAAEM
                   Jack Perkins, MD FAAEM

Reviewed and approved by the AAEM Board of Directors (5/30/2014).

Policy Statement:
It is the position of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine that ultrasound should be integrated into the core curriculum of undergraduate medical education.

Background:
Medical diagnostic ultrasound has been used by various specialties since the 1950s. Contemporary point of care ultrasound (POCUS) was first researched and utilized by emergency physicians in the mid 1980s. Emergency physicians have formally defined and pioneered POCUS over the past two decades. Research in a broad array of applications indicate improved patient care via procedural safety and success (11,13,17), improved diagnostic accuracy (20,21,22), decreased procedural pain (8), decrease time to critical interventions (11, 22), and decreased time to discharge (3). The practice of POCUS continues to grow. In the most recent decade there is an expanding role for POCUS across many specialties in medicine. As hospital wide ultrasound application has increased many healthcare institutions struggle to meet the growing educational needs of faculty and residents to obtain standardize ultrasound training. In addition, multiple specialties have POCUS fellowships and specialized POCUS training during other fellowships.

View From the Podium - Call for Educational Proposals!

www.aaem.org/AAEM15/speakers

View from the Podium
21st Annual Scientific Assembly
Joseph Lex, Jr., MD FAAEM MAAEM

It’s time to think about the next Scientific Assembly — scheduled for Austin, Texas, from 28 February 28 through March 4, 2015. The success of the 20th gathering in New York back in February will be tough to surpass. That’s why I need your help.

It is my great honor to once again be in charge of putting together the AAEM Scientific Assembly. I did it for five years from 2001 to 2006, before handing the reins over to Kevin Rodgers. But I lobbied for the job one more time, and I need to show that the trust put in me by Education Committee Chair Mike Epter and President Mark Reiter is warranted.

New Podcast! Due Process Rights: The Case of a Physician Who Fought Back and Won

http://www.aaem.org/publications/podcasts/emergency-physician-advocates

Due Process Rights: The Case of a Physician Who Fought Back and Won
Larry Weiss, MD JD FAAEM, Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and past-president of AAEM, interviews Jeffery Lurner, APC, about due process rights in the case of Dr. Chudnovsky v. Chapman Medical Center. They will discuss the highlights of the case, the due process issues called into question, and medical staff bylaws in relation to contract provisions. Mr. Lurner can be contacted for questions at jlurner@email.com.

Or listen on the AAEM website. 

Leave your comments below!

New Position Statement: AAEM Opposes ED Wait Time Guarantees

The American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) announces a new position statement approved by the board of directors in May 2014.
Emergency Department Wait Time Guarantees
The American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) opposes emergency department wait time guarantees. Wait time guarantees potentially compromise patient care by forcing emergency physicians to reduce their attention on truly emergent patients to ensure that less-emergent patients are seen within the wait time guarantee interval. As wait time guarantees do not take into account patient acuity or surges in patient volume, they may put the most critical patients in the emergency department at risk. Although EDs strive to increase efficiency to minimize patient delays, wait time guarantees should be discouraged.

To view this AAEM position statement and all archived position statements, visit www.aaem.org/em-resources/position-statements.

Podcast: CVP vs Ultrasound: Assessing Volume Status in the Critically Ill Patient

www.aaem.org/publications/podcasts/critical-care-in-emergency-medicine

Critical Care in Emergency Medicine: CVP vs Ultrasound: Assessing Volume Status in the Critically Ill Patient
David Farcy, MD FAAEM FCCM, Chairman, Department of Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical in Miami Beach, Florida, speaks with Ashika Jain, MD, Assistant Professor at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. In this episode, Drs. Farcy and Jain discuss CVP, ultrasound, and how to assess fluid responsiveness in your critically ill patient. Intro music by SaReGaMa, "Sky is the Limit," from the album "Sky is the Limit," powered by JAMENDO.

Or listen on the AAEM website. 

Leave your comments below!

 Accompanying Ultrasound Photos: 

1. PS Long
Photo owned by Ashika Jain, MD

It's Here! AAEM15 Call for Educational Proposals

2015 Call for Educational Proposals 

Interested in speaking or presenting at Scientific Assembly or offering a preconference course?

Submit an Educational Proposal

Deadline to submit a proposal:
June 15, 2014


www.aaem.org/AAEM15

AAEM & AAEM/RSA Announce New Member Benefit!

www.aaem.org/member-center

FREE Medical Translator app for AAEM and AAEM/RSA members! 

Canopy Apps is the winner of multiple awards from the National Institutes of Health. As part of AAEM’s and AAEM/RSA’s partnership with Canopy, members will receive exclusive free access to the popular Canopy Medical Translator app for iOS (and coming soon for Android) through AAEM. The app enables instant communication with patients in Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Hindi, Korean, and more.

This new benefit will complement the additional professional resources already available to AAEM and AAEM/RSA members.

AAEM secretary-treasurer, Joel Schofer, MD RDMS FAAEM noted, “This new, free member benefit will not only improve patient-physician communication with non-English speaking patients, but will be useful to all of our members who utilize their significant skills and expertise in the international community."

AAEM/RSA president, Meaghan Mercer, DO, added, “This app is a great addition to our member benefits! The ability to communicate easily and effectively is so important and the Canopy Translator will facilitate a positive clinical experience for both physicians and patients."

AAEM members interested in downloading the app for free should visit the newly redesigned AAEM Member’s Center at www.aaem.org/member-center for the access code. 

AAEM/RSA members, visit www.aaemrsa.org/myrsa. 

Emergency physicians, residents, or medical students interested in joining AAEM or AAEM/RSA to take advantage of this and other member benefits, please visit www.aaem.org/join or www.aaemrsa.org/join.

Written Board Review Course - Dates Announced!

http://www.aaem.org/education/written-board-review-course

 

Save the Date! Registration opens in April.

Rated one of the top EM Written Board Review Courses by EMRA

Course Features:

• Up to 27 lecture hours of intense review of EM board materials.
• Taught by experienced emergency medicine faculty.
• Exceptional value — includes lunch all three course days
• Comprehensive review of emergency medicine for all emergency physicians. Ideal for exam-takers or for physicians seeking quality review materials.

AAEM and FLAAEM Concerned Over Florida Supreme Court Ruling Removing Cap on Non-Economic Damages for Medical Malpractice

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 17, 2014

Contact: Laura Burns
Communications Manager
lburns@aaem.org
800-884-2236

MILWAUKEE — The American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) and the Florida state chapter of AAEM (FLAAEM) are concerned about the effect of Thursday’s ruling by the Florida Supreme Court and its implications for the emergency medicine community.

The court’s 5-2 ruling will remove caps of $500,000 on non-economic damages and $1 million on damages on wrongful death claims, originally set in place in 2003. In response to the ruling, the president of the Florida Medical Association, Alan Harmon, MD, noted that the caps were originally enacted “to counter the out-of-control litigation that was driving physicians out of the state and discouraging new physicians to locate in Florida. The caps have helped begin to stabilize the medical liability climate in Florida. Insurance premiums, while still high compared to other states, have started to level off since the caps were put into place.”[1]

David A. Farcy, MD FAAEM FCCM FACEP, president of FLAAEM, echoes concerns that the ruling may increase costs and limit access to care stating, “Physicians will return to practicing a more defensive type medicine by ordering more tests to protect themselves, resulting in increased health care costs, longer wait times and length of stay in the emergency department.” Dr. Farcy also noted that the decision may discourage new medical graduates and other specialists, such as OB-GYNs and General Surgeons, from remaining in Florida due to the high cost of medical malpractice premiums.

Mark Reiter, MD MBA FAAEM, president of AAEM, added that "AAEM is committed to a future where all patients presenting to our emergency departments are cared for by emergency medicine specialists. This ruling is a major step back as many emergency physicians in Florida may now choose to leave what has now become one of the worst medicolegal environments in the country."

New Emergency Physician Advocates Podcast: The ACA, Medicaid, and the ED - What's the Bottom Line?

http://www.aaem.org/publications/podcasts/emergency-physician-advocates

Emergency Physician Advocates: The ACA, Medicaid, and the ED - What's the Bottom Line? 
In this Policy Prescriptions® edition of the podcast, Cedric Dark, MD MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Emergency Medicine Residency Program at Baylor College of Medicine, speaks with Jesse Pines, MD MBA FAAEM, Director of the Office of Clinical Practice Innovation at George Washington University. The discussion points include: how will the ACA and Medicaid interact with emergency departments? What will this mean for the bottom line for emergency departments around the country.

Or listen on the AAEM website. 

Leave your comments below!

Election Results: AAEM 2014-2015 Board of Directors

MILWAUKEE – The American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) announces the 2014 election results for the AAEM board of directors.

The American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) announces that Mark Reiter, MD MBA FAAEM, was elected as president; Kevin Rodgers, MD FAAEM, was elected as vice president; Joel Schofer, MD RDMS FAAEM, was elected as secretary-treasurer. They will serve for two-year terms on the board.

John B. Christensen, MD FAAEM; David Lawhorn, MD FAAEM; and Andrew P. Mayer, MD FAAEM, were elected to two-year terms as at-large board members, and Michael Ybarra, MD FAAEM, was elected to serve as the Young Physicians Section (YPS) director. The YPS director position is a one-year term.

20th Annual Scientific Assembly Competition Winners

MILWAUKEE — The American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) announces the competition winners from the 20th Annual Scientific Assembly, in New York City, NY, February 11-15, 2014.

AAEM/JEM Resident & Student Abstract Competition Winners —
This competition is designed to recognize outstanding research achievements by residents and students in emergency medicine. Out of a total 57 submissions, eight were selected for oral presentation. The top oral presentations are as follows:

1st Place: Matt Gaffigan, MD, “Haldol/Benadryl vs. Reglan/Benadryl for Treatment of Acute Headache in the ED — An RCT”

2nd Place: Shannon Toohey, MD, “Reasons for Visit: Comparing Patient Perceptions to Emergency Screening Index (ESI)”

3rd Place: Brenton Taggart, MD, “Lactate Levels in the Acutely Ill Patient: Does the Tourniquet Falsely Elevate the Result?”

Stephen Hayden, MD FAAEM, Editor, Journal of Emergency Medicine,
presents the awards to Matt Gaffigan, MD, Shannon Toohey, MD, and Brenton Taggart, MD.

2014 AAEM Award Winners

MILWAUKEE — The American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) and the AAEM Resident and Student Association (AAEM/RSA) announce the 2014 Award Recipients.

Master of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine (MAAEM) —

Anthony DeMond, MD MAAEM FAAEM 
Tom Scaletta, MD MAAEM FAAEM
James Keaney, MD MAAEM FAAEM

This award recognizes senior AAEM fellows who demonstrated a long career of extraordinary service to AAEM, service as an exemplary clinician and/or teacher of emergency medicine, service to emergency medicine in the area of research and/or published works, service as a leader in the hospital, the community or organized medicine, service in the areas of health policy and advocacy, volunteerism, and other activities or high honors that distinguished the physician as preeminent in the field of emergency medicine.

Anthony DeMond, MD MAAEM FAAEM receives the
award from William T. Durkin, Jr., MD MBA FAAEM

Tom Scaletta, MD MAAEM FAAEM receives the award
from William T. Durkin, Jr., MD MBA FAAEM

New Emergency Physician Advocates Podcast: EMTALA - What Every EP Must Know

http://www.aaem.org/publications/podcasts/emergency-physician-advocates

Emergency Physician Advocates: EMTALA - What Every Emergency Physician Must Know
Larry Weiss, MD JD FAAEM, Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and past-president of AAEM, discusses EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act) and what every emergency physician must know. In part 1 of this 2 part series he will discuss EMTALA obligations related to screening exams and stabilization. Discussion points include: a review of landmark EMTALA cases, EMTALA legally mandated obligations, and EMTALA rules & regulations.

Or listen on the AAEM website. 

Leave your comments below!

Dr. Weiss's objectives in this podcast:
1. Understand important EMTALA case law & review of landmark cases

2. Understand legally mandated obligations under EMTALA

3. Understand the EMTALA rules & regulations: "What is a regulation?" "What is the difference between a regulation and a statue?" "How does this effect you?"

EMTALA created three major duties under federal law for hospitals to appropriately screen, stabilize & transfer patients. Dr. Weiss will discuss these duties in detail. This episode covers screening & stabilization. Episode 13 (to be released in February 2014) will cover the transfer duties.

AAEM Opposes Turkish Medical Bill Criminalizing Emergency First Aid Care

January 28, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Laura Burns
               lburns@aaem.org
               800-884-2236

MILWAUKEE — The American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) is the specialty society of board certified emergency physicians. AAEM is a democratic organization committed to the principle of fair and equitable practice environments to allow emergency physicians to provide the highest quality of patient care.

It is the firm opinion of AAEM that the medical bill newly signed by Turkish President Abdullah Gul, making it a crime to administer emergency first aid without government authorization, unjustly and negatively affects both patients and providers.