As we await publication of the “Emergency Medicine Physician Workforce: Projections for 2030” research, ACEP is leading efforts down many important paths to favorably influence the future of the EM workforce.

Define EM Residency Standards for the Future

• ACEP met in early June with the Association of Academic Chairs of Emergency Medicine, Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association, Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors, American College of Osteopathic Emergency Physicians, Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM), and SAEM Residents and Medical Students to begin reviewing and developing recommended program requirement changes to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) for the 2022 review cycle.
• The stakeholder representatives looking at the ACGME guidelines will meet every two weeks. ACEP President Mark S. Rosenberg, DO, MBA, FACEP, appointed members including Kelly Gray-Eurom, MD, MMM, FACEP; Christopher S. Sampson, MD, FACEP; and Laura Oh, MD, FACEP, to this effort.

Ensure Business Interests Do Not Supersede Education and Patient Care

There are pressures to start residency programs from for-profit hospitals, nonprofit hospitals, and academic health systems. There are also some state laws that reward expansion of graduate medical education.

• ACEP leaders will reach out to hospitals, physician groups, and other stakeholders to set up meetings to ensure they understand the history and growth of graduate medical education, the research from the Workforce Task Force about the potential future impact on the EM workforce, and the role the groups and health systems play.
• Discussions also include legal, legislative, and regulatory options that tie Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) funding of graduate medical education to specialties and geographic areas of need as well as how ACEP might be able to encourage needed changes. Findings will be reported.
• An objective has been added to the Academic Affairs Committee to conduct research with residency programs with respect to employment models, funding sources, staffing models, physician assistant (PA)/nurse practitioner (NP) training programs, and policies for prioritizing critical care to EM residents.

Protect Unique Role of the Emergency Physician and Fight Independent Practice

ACEP believes that emergency physicians provide the highest-quality care of patients with undifferentiated illnesses. We fight for physician-led teams and robust guardrails to maintain the scope of practice for NP/PAs.