When somebody is sick or injured in and around Birmingham, Alabama, several options exist for care. 

But only one has received ACEP’s Emergency Department Accreditation Program (EDAP) stamp of approval. The University of Alabama at Birmingham is the first ED—and only for now—to attain this accreditation. UAB was notified in late February of this achievement after several months of navigating the process and supplying information to back up the vision and prove it meets the requirements. 

“Although it’s probably not planned and a bad day in somebody’s life, we want people to choose to come to UAB like they would choose to go to their favorite restaurant,” said Laine McDonald, MD, UAB ED Medical Director and Clinical Associate Professor. “And not because we’re big and have so many physicians and specialists on staff, but because of the genuine compassionate care we deliver.” 

Dr. McDonald, along with a team of ED clinicians and support staff, were required to show that UAB met certain criteria and provided data to reinforce the claim. Criteria are broken down into categories such as physician/hospital staffing, physician contracting, quality, policies, and resources. UAB achieved Level 1 Accreditation and helped launch the program as one of six pilot sites. 

The University of Maryland Medical Center, John Peter Smith Hospital in Texas, Novant Health Forsyth in North Carolina, and Holy Cross Medical Center in New Mexico are serving as pilots and providing ACEP information on their EDs. 

The EDAP was created to elevate emergency care, ensuring that hospitals meet quality standards. 

Dr. McDonald said the journey toward becoming the first accredited ED in the nation meant validating some of the strategies and tactics the UAB team has been following for years. 

“There is a stellar team within this department,” she said. “And I do think, as soon as they kind of heard that there was this opportunity for accreditation, all the ducks were in line to pull everything together – the necessary data and quality measures and things that they’ve been doing for a long, long time.” 

UAB has Alabama’s only Level 1 Trauma Center and the only Level 1 Burn Center, and when you consider its comprehensive services for stroke and heart attack, McDonald said there’s plenty for UAB to brag about. But adding this layer of affirmation through ACEP means patients, the health care team, and the public will know what kind of care they will receive. 

Dr. McDonald said they don’t take that lightly, and it comes at a great time. An upcoming expansion will add 30 beds to the UAB ED. 

“Our team in the ED is extremely proud of this, but it’s not just within the department,” she said. “When you are part of a big university system, the hope is that people outside of your department recognize the worth you bring. We want people to know what we bring to UAB Medicine. The kind of recognition a national accreditation like this gives us is valuable, and we really appreciate the opportunity.” 

ACEP’s EDAP is part of a comprehensive set of accreditation programs. 

ACEP’s Clinical Ultrasound Accreditation Program (CUAP) strives for continuous quality management and patient safety, communication, responsibility, and clarity regarding the use of clinical ultrasound. Accreditation ensures that safe, quality examinations are performed in any ED that utilizes clinical, point-of-care ultrasound. 

ACEP’s Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation Program (GEDA) promotes the best clinical practices for older adults. Last August, GEDA’s work was validated when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services introduced an Age-Friendly Hospital Measure as part of the fiscal year 2025 Inpatient Prospective Payment System rule. This measure incorporates important aspects of the GEDA framework into care delivery. 

ACEP’s Pain and Addiction Care in the ED Program (PACED) works to accelerate the transfer of knowledge about acute pain management and secure appropriate resources to care for patients. 

ACEP added the EDAP concept in the summer of 2024, then began working through what criteria to use. Its mission is to elevate the practice of emergency medicine, provide transparency for patients, offer enforcement to ACEP’s established policies, and create the safest and most effective environments for our patients, our physicians, and all ED staff. 

Meeting ED Accreditation standards can add value for patients, physicians, and hospitals. 

Until this program was developed, no accreditation or classification programs recognized EDs that adhere to best practice standards and policies. The nation’s emergency departments vary in staffing, capabilities and working conditions. Hospitals and emergency departments committed to high, evidence-based standards, including staffing by board-certified emergency physicians, should be recognized for their efforts to provide the best care possible to the communities they serve. 

Marianne Gausche-Hill, MD, FACEP, FAAP, FAEM, Chair of the EDAP Board of Governors, said when the pilot program launched that ACEP “understands there are large community hospitals, academic centers and rural hospitals with vastly different resources and needs. However, when a patient walks through the door, they want to know there are resources available for that ED to delivery high quality care.” 

While UAB’s size and resources helped push the ED to accredited status, Dr. McDonald says size and location shouldn’t be a deterrent to working toward the application and review process. If you’re already providing quality, patient-centered care and are committed to improvement, she said you’re almost already there. 

“Much of what goes into this achievement are things you’re probably already doing, so keep doing it and document and keep greeting people with a smile when you’re helping them,” Dr. McDonald said. “I think some of the smaller hospital systems maybe feel like it’s not something that they can aspire to achieve, but that’s not true. I would say to keep your vision large and tackle each little part of the process one by one.”