Live update: 0859. Dr. Bob Suter, ACEP Past President, makes his first recommendation for change. I need to remind myself to keep count of his trips to the mic.

I grant that this can be tedious. But having served as a member of the EMRA BOD, little commas, articles and conjunctions can change the meaning of the resolution, and can change the responsibilities of the Board members, the individual members and the ACEP Council. So they are very important.

Live update: 0938. Dr. Suter just did 20 push-ups as punishment for using a cliche! I am so not joking.

One of the biggest debates of this year’s Council was if ACEP should oppose or support a single-payer system. Should we, as a college, come out one way or another? ACEP is a pretty big organization and includes more than 30,000 emergency physicians, likely with 30,000 opinions. This year there were two contradicting resolutions presented. One stated that ACEP supports a single-payer system, and another that stated ACEP opposes. Obviously both can’t pass.

Live update: 1123. Dr. Kevin Klauer, Vice Speaker of the Council, just admonished a councillor for using a mythical creature in an argument.

Another hot issue was the Choosing Wisely campaign. Basically, there is a huge list of tests (blood, urine, x-ray, CT, MRI) determined to be useless by other specialties that we are now being asked to use as a guideline. The goal is cost-effective care (See page 16).

Live update: 1359. Dr. Linda Lawrence just said “ass” in response to Dr. Klauer’s question, “To what part of the anatomy were you referring when you said ‘bite us in the you-know-what’?”

On one side of the issue is that, of course, we are all for cost-effective care and reducing needless tests. I hate that all these tests not only cost money, but many times they make no difference in my disposition. Some of these make sense, but, personally, I’m not sure us jumping on that bandwagon is such a good idea. I mean, I’m the one taking the risk usually, not the family doc or the pediatrician. If I feel a test is necessary, I’m going to order it. Ultimately, the Council voted not to join the Choosing Wisely campaign.

Live update: 1519. Well, I thought the medical marijuana issue wasn’t going to come up this year! But, alas, it was snuck in on the TBI/PTSD resolution as an amendment. It has been struck down as not being germane to the resolution. At least the rest of the Council isn’t smoking it. But, wait, where are his push-ups?