The American Medical Association adopted policies supporting limits on which facilities can use the terms “emergency department” and “emergency room.”
The policy, adopted during the 2026 AMA Interim Meeting, stems from an AMA Council on Medical Service report that found 1 in 13 EDs did not have one or more on-duty attending physicians at all times, according to a Nov. 9 association news release. The report also said an increasing number of facilities, including EDs, are substituting nonphysician providers for physicians, which the council called “concerning because physician-led care provides a level of training, scope and clinical judgment that differs from care provided by nonphysicians.”
To support systems that meet physician demand in the ED, the AMA House of Delegates adopted policy supporting:
- Limiting the use of ED designation to facilities that meet EMTALA requirements and provide 24/7 in-person physician coverage, and allowing those facilities to be classified as an emergency place of service for billing purposes.
- Developing standardized ED descriptors to reflect the facility’s level of on-site physician coverage and available services, and recommending that facilities without a dedicated on-site physician use them.
- Requiring facilities without continuous on-site physician coverage to disclose that through physical and online signage, and requiring their advertisements have a disclosure.
