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C-L psychiatrists identified as one of the eligible professions
The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) has formally recognized approved expertise in Emergency Behavioral Health through a Focused Practice Designation (FPD).
As previously reported in ACLP News, C-L psychiatrists are identified by the key sponsors as one of the eligible professions for this certification.
In its application for the FDA, The American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM)—the administrative board for the certification—says the aim is to recognize the expertise of physicians in emergency behavioral care.
The certification is expected to help emergency behavioral care more quickly evolve as an emphasis within emergency medicine and improve access to care for patients in need of unscheduled behavioral health and mental health expertise.
Physicians with the FPD could provide a detailed mental health evaluation; initiate pharmacologic treatment quickly; arrange for safe discharge from the emergency department with coordinated, patient-family-centered outpatient treatment; and, confidently apply involuntary care and mandated treatment.
“Appropriate and timely care can be provided to patients who are boarding in the emergency department for days, weeks, or, on occasion, months, while awaiting an open inpatient psychiatric bed,” said the ABEM. “The mental health crisis in the US and lack of access to emergency behavioral health care has created the need for more physicians to have greater expertise. A focused practice in emergency behavioral care takes one step forward to address this public health emergency.”
Announcing the recognition, ABMS says patients seeking acute, unscheduled, mental health treatment frequently experience disparities of care based on insurance status, race, and age. The mental health crisis and its lack of access to emergency behavioral care creates a tremendous urgency for advanced knowledge. “This is a step toward making improvements to this critical need for a unique skill set.”