ACEP board members, council officers, executive leaders weigh in on this potential solution to regulatory pressure around reducing health care delivery costs

This article was discovered by Michael Baldyga, ACEP public relations manager, and forwarded to Dean Wilkerson, ACEP Executive Director; Alexander Rosenau, ACEP President; and Michael Gerardi, ACEP President-Elect. The “think tank” erupted with a fury of interaction and communication over a 96-hour period.

It is important to recognize the raw nature of this work and see this for what it is: issue identification, rapid dissemination, and brainstorming. It is not a completed work and includes most, but not all, comments submitted. In the coming months, solutions will be investigated to support the interests and needs of emergency physicians and our patients.

Kevin M. Klauer, DO, EJD, FACEP, is director of the Center for Emergency Medical Education (CEME) and chief medical officer for Emergency Medicine Physicians, Ltd., Canton, Ohio; on the Board of Directors for Physicians Specialty Limited Risk Retention Group; assistant clinical professor at Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine; and medical editor in chief of ACEP Now.

The work of the ACEP Board of Directors is often messy, frequently goes unnoticed, and is always productive. The following is a recent email discussion between the ACEP Board Members, Council Officers, and ACEP executive leadership. The issue of safe harbor protections for following clinical guidelines was raised as a potential solution in response to regulatory pressure to reduce the cost of care delivery. ACEP started to feel the squeeze after an article published on February 23, 2014, in the lay press, “A Push for Less Testing in Emergency Rooms: Heavy Use of Imaging Scans May Drive Up Costs—and Risks,” by Barbara Sadick of The Wall Street Journal.

Dean,

Thanks for forwarding…unfortunate that medial liability reform/safe harbors got no mentions…the take home seems to be: “If only these ED docs could do a physical exam.”

—Mark L. Mackey, MD, MBA, FACEP, ACEP Board Member

Yes, and we can’t seem to shake the title “ER physician” instead of emergency physician. We haven’t been holed up in a “room” for a long time.

—Rebecca B. Parker, MD, FACEP, ACEP Board Member

Unfortunately, no professional liability discussion. What is the acceptable miss rate? Where are the safe harbors, etc., etc.? We should draft a thoughtful editorial comment. We have been working hard on making progress on utilization issues.