Use of Non-Emergency Medicine Specialists in the Emergency Department

1) The American Academy of Emergency Medicine, believing that emergency department care is best provided by physicians properly board certified in emergency medicine, reiterates the relevant portions of its Mission Statement:

• Every individual should have unencumbered access to quality emergency care provided by a specialist in emergency medicine.
• The practice of emergency medicine is best conducted by a specialist in emergency medicine.
• A specialist in emergency medicine is a physician who has achieved, through personal dedication and sacrifice, certification by either the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) or the American Osteopathic Board of Emergency Medicine (AOBEM).

2) Organized hospital medical staffs have the primary responsibility of credentialing physicians to work in their emergency departments and may decide how to best meet their community needs for emergency medical care.

3) The Academy rejects claims by any physician to be “board certified” in emergency medicine unless such individual receives certification by ABEM/AOBEM. Alternative “certification” circumvents the standard mechanism created by the established medical community.

Approved: July 10, 2009