Dr. Dark: I think consolidation is a very important concept to remember because we have seen insurance companies consolidating, getting bigger, and getting more leverage. On the flip side, we’ve seen physician groups consolidating, getting bigger, and trying to get more leverage. You’re saying we need to have a little nuance between consolidation and corporate practice. Can you explain that?

Dr. Terry: Corporate practice of medicine really speaks to more of the contractual relationships in terms of how the business is put together and run. Whereas consolidation speaks to the combining or merging of one entity with another. At the end of the day, the corporate practice of medicine should never come at the expense of the patient. It should never result in payment being put over patients. Unfortunately, what we see often is that it comes at the expense of the patient in terms of their outcomes, but it also tends to come at the expense of the emergency physician in terms of how it impacts the workplace environment. ACEP’s focus is around making sure that emergency physicians feel safe in their workplace, that they feel supported in their workplace, that they feel that they’re having fair working conditions in order that they can continue to take care of patients in a way that results in improved [patient] outcomes. Unfortunately, when we have mergers and acquisitions resulting in consolidation there’s a lot of trimming in order to create efficiencies. But that trimming cannot come at the expense of quality care for our patients. It cannot come at the expense of poor working conditions for emergency physicians. ACEP is demanding better for emergency physicians.

Dr. Dark: Physicians feel that as efficiencies are created, when certain organizations come in, that people feel like staffing is no longer adequate. How can ACEP ensure that physician staffing is adequate to the volume of patients that are showing up in each department across this country?

Dr. Terry: ACEP is looking to improve the workplace environment for the emergency physician by making sure that we tie adequate staffing to patient outcomes and even quality measures. ACEP is launching an accreditation program in 2024, which will really include several areas of focus. One area is around staffing—ensuring that emergency departments have a standard to follow when it comes to making sure that there are enough people on the ground taking care of patients and linking that to quality outcomes.