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.”