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Advocacy: AAEM’s New Action Center: Grassroots Advocacy Made Simple
ADVOCACY
AAEM’s New Action Center: Grassroots Advocacy Made Simple
Vicki Norton, MD FAAEM
Emergency Medicine is under attack from many different angles. Like it or not, our specialty is being subjected to trauma from corporate control, a lack of due process, burdensome metrics, and replacement of physicians with non-physician practitioners. I have personally felt frustrated, feeling like there is nothing I can do to change things for the better. That is what prompted me to become so involved with AAEM and join the Board of Directors. Now we ALL have an opportunity to make a difference! And it can be as easy as the click of a button.
The AAEM Board recently approved a new bill tracker and grassroots action center using a software called Quorum. AAEM’s Advocacy Action Center (https://aaem.quorum.us) will be your onestop shop to view upcoming state legislation that could impact your practice, take action to write and call your local and federal legislators, and be informed about all the issues affecting emergency medicine today and in the future.
Our current letter writing campaigns and other calls-to-action can be accessed from the “Active Campaigns” tab on the top of the screen. One such campaign, “Raising Residency Standards,” allows members to send a letter to the ACGME over concerns related to current EM training program standards which could greatly impact future workforce concerns related to the projected oversupply. AAEM’s proposed solution would be to limit the number of residents at the program’s primary site to one resident per 3600 patient volume, in order to have a more robust and standardized educational experience. This would also prevent programs from “gaming” the system in order to increase resident class size or open new programs.
The AAEM Board wants to empower all emergency physicians to have their voices heard on these important issues. We are all leading busy, full lives. It takes time and effort to build relationships with or reach out to legislators, policymakers, and regulatory bodies. The AAEM Action Center can simplify this process and make us all advocates: for our patients, our specialty, and ourselves. Check it out today!
References
1. Marco MD, et al. The Emergency Medicine Physician Workforce: Projections for 2030. Annals of Emerg Medicine, Aug 2, 2021. https://www.annemergmed.com/article/S0196-0644(21)00439-X/ fulltext
2. AAEM Position Statement: Raising Emergency Medicine Residency Standards, July 7, 2021. https://www.aaem.org/resources/statements/position/raising-em-residency-standards
