Guidance and Position Statements

Maintaining healthful, safe, and productive work environments for workers in correctional settings is a matter of deep consequence to the workers and the incarcerated individuals with whom they share space. The Task Force hypothesized that an examination of the academic literature would reveal opportunities for an improved approach to research in these settings. A scoping literature review using search terms related to the occupational and environmental health of workers in correctional environments, limited to studies performed in the US was therefore conducted.

This statement by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine provides guidance for OEM providers who serve workers and employers in industries where heat exposure occurs.

This guidance document addresses the current state of OEM practice and education, and the challenges faced regarding the training of future OEM physicians. This Board-approved article has been submitted to JOEM for publication. However, due to the importance of the material contained in this paper, ACOEM is releasing it prior to its publication in JOEM.

This guidance statement from ACOEM focuses on the different strategies that OEM health professionals can implement to protect workers from health impacts associated with climate change hazards, foster workplace resilience in the face of rapidly changing environments, and take the necessary steps to mitigate the effects of global climate change.

Though the COVID-19 pandemic persists, and the impact of viral mutation-driven variants remains uncertain, ACOEM is updating its guidance for performing more widespread spirometry. The guidance remains interim due to the rapidly evolving understanding of how SARS-CoV-2 can be best controlled. This ACOEM guidance document is intended to help occupational health clinical service providers minimize risks to patients and health care personnel.

The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) recommends that COVID-19 vaccination be mandated for all health care workers (HCWs).  

Competency is defined as possession of sufficient physical, intellectual, and behavioral qualifications to perform a task or serve in a role which adequately accomplishes a desired outcome. Recognizing the need for defining competencies essential to occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) physicians, ACOEM developed its first set of OEM Competencies in 1998 and later updated them in 2008 and 2014. The increasing globalization and modernization of the workplace, along with published research on OEM practice, required this update in 2021 to ensure OEM physicians stay current with the field and practice of OEM. Due to the importance of the material contained in these revised OEM Competencies, this peer-reviewed document was made available in March 2021 prior to publication in the July 2021 issue of JOEM.

In 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented new rules for coding outpatient Evaluation and Management (E&M) encounters. Under the new rules, providers can now use time-based or medical decision making (MDM) based coding for encounters that follow CMS rules. Many, but not all, workers’ compensation (WC) insurance providers have also adopted the new rules. Therefore, ACOEM developed this tip sheet to assist providers of WC care in appropriately documenting care using the new coding model. 

This guidance statement is intended to help occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) physicians determine what type of medical license they should hold – a clinical or an administrative license. And what they should do if they are advised by their state licensing body to apply for an administrative license instead of a clinical license, and they disagree.