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Contributions of Academic Emergency Medicine Programs to U.S. Health Care: Summary of the AAAEM ‐ AACEM Benchmarking Data
Author(s) -
Reznek Martin A.,
Scheulen James J.,
Harbertson Cathi A.,
Kotkowski Kevin A.,
Kelen Gabor D.,
Volturo Gregory A.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
academic emergency medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.221
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1553-2712
pISSN - 1069-6563
DOI - 10.1111/acem.13337
Subject(s) - benchmarking , medicine , emergency department , family medicine , academic year , academic medicine , graduate medical education , health care , emergency medicine , medical education , nursing , accreditation , psychology , mathematics education , marketing , economics , business , economic growth
Objectives The societal contribution of emergency care in the United States has been described. The role and impact of academic emergency departments ( ED s) has been less clear. Our report summarizes the results of a benchmarking effort specifically focused on academic emergency medicine ( EM ) practices. Methods From October through December 2016, the Academy of Academic Administrators of Emergency Medicine ( AAAEM ) and the Association of Academic Chairs of Emergency Medicine ( AACEM ) jointly administered a benchmarking survey to allopathic, academic departments and divisions of emergency medicine. Participation was voluntary and nonanonymous. The survey queried various aspects of the three components of the tripartite academic mission: clinical care, education and research, and faculty effort and compensation. Responses reflected a calendar year from July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2016. Results Of 107 eligible U.S. allopathic, academic departments and divisions of emergency medicine, 79 (74%) responded to the survey overall, although individual questions were not always answered by all responding programs. The 79 responding programs reported 6,876,189 patient visits at 97 primary and affiliated academic clinical sites. A number of clinical operations metrics related to the care of these patients at these sites are reported in this study. All responding programs had active educational programs for EM residents, with a median of 37 residents per program. Nearly half of the overall respondents reported responsibility for teaching medical students in mandatory EM clerkships. Fifty‐two programs reported research and publication activity, with a total of $129,494,676 of grant funding and 3,059 publications. Median faculty effort distribution was clinical effort, 66.9%; education effort, 12.7%; administrative effort, 12.0%; and research effort, 6.9%. Median faculty salary was $277,045. Conclusions Academic EM programs are characterized by significant productivity in clinical operations, education, and research. The survey results reported in this investigation provide appropriate benchmarking for academic EM programs because they allow for comparison of academic programs to each other, rather than nonacademic programs that do not necessarily share the additional missions of research and education and may have dissimilar working environments.