The 2012 ACEP Council considered several resolutions during its annual meeting last month, including issues related to the emergency medicine practice environment, College bylaw changes, and public health issues.

The ACEP Council is led by Speaker Dr. Marco Coppola and Vice Speaker Dr. Kevin Klauer, who set the agenda and run the annual two-day democratic process.

This year’s 350-member Council represented all 53 chapters, 32 ACEP sections of membership, the Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association (EMRA), the Association of Academic Chairs in Emergency Medicine (AACEM), the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors (CORD), and the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM).

The Council initiates policy and shapes the ACEP strategic plan by representing their constituencies’ interests. Resolutions can be proposed by chapters, sections, or any two ACEP members. The Council also elects ACEP’s Board of Directors and chooses the President-elect, who will become the future ACEP President.

On Day 1, all resolutions are discussed in reference committees, where additional background is provided, the merits of the resolution are considered and word-smithing and other amending takes place by groups of interested Councillors before they are debated on the Council floor on Day 2. The resolutions adopted by the Council do not become College policy until they are reviewed and approved by the ACEP Board of Directors. This year, all resolutions adopted by the Council were accepted by the Board members.

Adopted Resolutions:

• Resolution 17(12) to support the development of evidence-based, coordinated pain treatment guidelines.
• Resolution 22(12) to support the development of non-punitive sobering centers.
• Resolution 23(12) to study the emergence of free-standing EDs including regulatory and accreditation issues, the potential impact on the emergency medicine workforce and the potential fiscal impact on hospital-based EDs.
• Resolution 24(12) to collaborate with other professional societies, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Defense to share educational resources related to treatment and referral options in the management of patients suffering post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury that present to the ED.
• Resolution 31(12) called for ACEP to state its commitment against gun violence and advocate for funding to study firearm violence.

Resolutions Referred to the Board of Directors

• Resolution 13(12) Expert Database and Reporting called for the creation of an expert witness database was referred to the Board so it could have the flexibility to determine the structure and possible committee assignments to considering developing such a resource.

Resolutions Not Adopted

• Resolutions 14(12) and 20(12) were two mutually exclusive resolutions, one calling for ACEP to oppose a single-payer, federally mandated, uniform health care system and the other calling for ACEP to support the adoption of a singer-payer financing mechanism for national health insurance.
• Resolution 15(12) called for ACEP to join the Choosing Wisely campaign. This was a very contested and debated resolution and after extensive testimony, the Council did not adopt the resolution. (See ACEP “Chooses” Differently, page 16)

Dr. Coppola also introduced a new Council Committee, the Leadership Development Advisory Group, which includes past College and Council leaders who will identify and mentor rising leaders. To find out more and to be considered as a mentor or a mentee, please contact Sonja Montgomery at 800-798-1822 or smontgomery@acep.org.

Next year’s Council meeting is on Oct. 12-13 in Seattle, Washington. The annual Council meeting is open to the public.