The ACEP offices will be closed for several upcoming holidays
We apologize for any inconvenience:
Thursday, November 28, 2024 and Friday, November 29, 2024.
Monday, December 23, 2024 thru Wednesday, January 1, 2025.
ACEP ID:
Revised March 2024
Reaffirmed February 2018, April 2012
Originally approved June 2006
The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) believes that physicians who begin or began the practice of emergency medicine in the 21st century must have completed an American Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited emergency medicine residency training program and be eligible for certification by the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) or American Osteopathic Board of Emergency Medicine (AOBEM).
ACEP acknowledges that emergency medicine’s development and rapid growth resulted in a workforce that includes physicians who are not eligible for ABEM or AOBEM specialty certification. These legacy emergency physicians, many of whom are residency trained and/or board certified in other specialties, began the practice of emergency medicine prior to the 21st century.
ACEP acknowledges that legacy emergency physicians, by virtue of their primary training and emergency medicine practice experience, still play an important role in the current emergency medicine workforce and patient care safety net.
ACEP believes that the quality of care delivered by legacy emergency physicians should be a primary determinant of their hospital privileges and credentialing. Legacy emergency physicians should be subject to the same quality standards as ABEM/AOBEM certified emergency physicians. Legacy emergency physicians should not be forced out of the workforce solely on the basis of their board certification status.
