Emergency Ultrasound Certification by External Entities

Reaffirmed February 2020

Originally approved June 2014

The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) believes that certification by non-emergency medicine external bodies, organizations, societies or other medical specialties or upon short course completion is inadequate to demonstrate comprehensive training, knowledge, and skill in the practice of emergency ultrasound.

Emergency ultrasound comprises a set of focused applications utilized to diagnose life-threatening conditions, guide invasive procedures, and treat emergency medical conditions. Both residency-based and practice-based pathways exist for emergency physicians to demonstrate competency in emergency ultrasound as detailed in the ACEP policy statement, "Ultrasound Guidelines: Emergency, Point-of-Care, and Clinical Ultrasound Guidelines in Medicine."

Any non-emergency medicine external certification process would impede the use of this critical clinical skill and adversely affect patient care.

ACEP strongly opposes the use of any non-emergency medicine external certification process to validate competency in the use of emergency ultrasound. Furthermore, any such process should not be utilized as a requirement for hospital privileges or credentialing, nor for reimbursement by accountable care organizations (ACOs), managed care organizations (MCOs), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) or other third-party payers.