PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
What Have We Learned? AAEM continues to firmly oppose post-employment geographic restrictive covenants, which are typically used as a tactic to protect the hospital or the contract group, at the expense of the emergency physician, who are used as pawns. They should not be applicable for emergency physicians, who unlike private practice cardiologists or orthopedists, do not have patients who will follow them from one hospital to another. Furthermore, emergency physicians do not ordinarily have access to any trade secrets, do not receive any education or training from their employers, and do not use referral lists as a source of patients. These are the usual arguments in favor of using restrictive covenants. Instead, restrictive covenants are commonly used in emergency medicine to interfere with physician practice rights and to control and exploit emergency physicians. There are additional consequences to consider when CMGs that include restrictive covenants in their contracts are involved in residency training. The training of residents requires stability of faculty, the disruption of resident’s lives and education we saw in the Summa case highlights this fact clearly. Emergency physicians should have the option to remain at their place of employment if the contract changes hands, or to take a new job nearby, rather than being forced to move far away. AAEM welcomes USACS as an advocate against restrictive covenants and in favor of emergency physician practice rights. We call on USACS to publicly state they will not include restrictive covenants and due process waivers in their physician contracts.
David A. Farcy, MD FAAEM FCCM President, AAEM Chairman, Department of Emergency Medicine Director, Emergency Medicine Critical Care Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, FL Mark Reiter, MD MBA FAAEM Immediate Past-President, AAEM CEO, Emergency Excellence Academic Chair/Residency Director, University of Tennessee-Murfreesboro/Nashville
Register Now! AAEM & AAEM/RSA
Health Policy Symposium & Advocacy Day June 5-6, 2019 • Washington, D.C. Health Policy in Emergency Medicine (HPEM) Symposium - June 5 Are you new to advocacy efforts on the Hill or do you want refresh your knowledge about health policy and advocacy? Join us! • Get an introduction to the advocacy process. No prior hill experience necessary — just knowledge of caring for patients and a passion for improving the health care system! • Get hands-on experience in the congressional process and what affects you as an emergency provider. • Hear from exciting speakers who advocate for your rights on the Hill. • Network and spend time with fellow AAEM and AAEM/RSA members throughout the day.
Advocacy Day - June 6 Take your knowledge from the HPEM symposium directly to the Hill to advocate for yourself and your patients! Join us for targeted meetings with congressional leaders to discuss issues of importance to emergency physicians.
AAEM Antitrust Compliance Plan: As part of AAEM’s antitrust compliance plan, we invite all readers of Common Sense to report any AAEM publication or activity which may restrain trade or limit competition. You may confidentially file a report at info@aaem.org or by calling 800-884-AAEM.
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COMMON SENSE MARCH/APRIL 2019
www.aaem.org/education/events/advocacy-day