Washington, DC — The recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports on “The Future of Emergency Care in the United States Health System” make such a compelling case for strengthening the emergency care safety net that Congress should take immediate action, according to Dr. James Moises, President of the Louisiana Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). Dr. Moises testified yesterday before the IOM’s regional workshop on the emergency medicine reports in New Orleans.
The IOM’s three landmark reports on in-hospital care, Emergency Medical Services and pediatric emergency medicine, found the nation’s emergency care system fragmented and stretched to the breaking point, as well as severely compromised in its ability to handle natural disasters or terrorist attacks.
“The IOM reports present a dramatic and thorough case for revamping the way emergency care is delivered in the United States,” said Dr. Moises. “These reports, coupled with our ongoing experiences here in Louisiana as we continue to recover from Katrina, expose an emergency health care system teetering on the brink of failure. Congress has no excuse not to pay attention to the problems facing the nation’s emergency departments; they have these IOM reports as a thoughtful case study into the issues facing emergency medicine along with a terrific list of recommendations.”
The IOM held the third in a series of four regional workshops to discuss the recommendations of the IOM reports yesterday at the Tulane University School of Public Health in New Orleans. The day-long forum focused on the key issues of the reports and the top priorities for action. Among the key recommendations of the reports: an end to the practice of “boarding,” where patients wait, sometimes for hours or days, for a hospital room to become available once they’ve been admitted; a significant increase in federal resources for emergency preparedness; and greater coordination among hospital emergency departments and the emergency medical services system.
The final IOM regional workshop will be held on December 11 in Washington, D.C.
“The problems of emergency medicine have been exposed,” said Dr. Moises. “ACEP is urging Congress to embrace the conclusions of the IOM reports and hold hearings on the Access to Emergency Medical Services Act as soon as they reconvene next year.”
The IOM began this process in September 2003 by convening a committee on the “Future of Emergency Care in the United States Health System” to identify the most important issues facing emergency patients and make recommendations on how best to deal with those issues. Charged with creating a vision for the future of emergency care, the committee looked at hospital-based emergency care, pre-hospital services and the special challenge of providing emergency care for children.
ACEP is a national medical specialty society representing emergency medicine with more than 25,000 members. ACEP is committed to advancing emergency care through continuing education, research and public education. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, ACEP has 53 chapters representing each state, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. A Government Services Chapter represents emergency physicians employed by military branches and other government agencies.