ACEP’s fourth and most comprehensive workforce study is under way. This two-year study aims to describe the current and future workforce in emergency medicine as well as projections of the workforce supply and demands.

ACEP’s previous workforce studies were published in 1998, 2002, and 2009. Although these studies demonstrated a significant shortage of the workforce, much has changed since the last study. We practice in an environment of ever-increasing numbers of annual emergency department visits. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported a record high of 145.6 million annual ED visits in the United States in 2016.1 To help train the workforce needed to treat these patients, there are currently 240 emergency medicine residency programs, more than at any time in the history of our specialty.

ACEP’s Workforce Task Force includes experts from AAENP, American Board of Emergency Medicine, ACEP, ACOEP, American Osteopathic Board of Emergency Medicine, CORD, EMRA, SAEM, and SEMPA. The following organizations were also invited to participate but declined: AAEM, AAEM/RSA, AACEM, SAEM/RAMS. ACEP has contracted with George Washington University’s Health Workforce Institute to perform a study. The task force plans a multifaceted approach to the study, including analysis of CDC ambulatory visit data, Medicare claims data, American Medical Association data, focus groups, surveys of practicing emergency physicians and emergency medicine residents and program directors, and other sources of data.

The final report is expected to be released in 2021. 

Reference

1. National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2016 Emergency Department Summary Tables. CDC website. Accessed April 22, 2019.