Guidance and Position Statements

Guidance and Position Statements

ACOEM provides recommendations for occupational health professionals on managing various situations which may arise in their practice or state the College’s position on a particular subject. These documents may be based upon the scientific literature or consensus opinion.
Incorporating Lifestyle Medicine into Occupational Medicine Practice

Lifestylemedicine (LM) utilizes evidencebased therapeutic lifestyle changes to address lifestyle factors that impact health, performance, and injury risk and recovery. By integrating LM principles into clinical care, workplace policies, and programs, along with other evidence-based methods, occupational and environmental medicine clinicians and medical directors can enhance worker health and performance, manage chronic disease, and facilitate faster recovery from injury and illness. This guidance addresses approaches that can be used in the clinic and workplace to address tobacco, substance misuse, nutrition, physical activity, overweight/obesity, sleep, mental wellbeing, and social connectedness.

01/03/2025 By Pamela Hymel, MD, Gregg Stave, MD, Wayne Burton, MD, Alyssa Schultz, PhD, Nathan Jones, MD, Jeffrey Liva, MD, Richard Price, MD, Ron Loeppke, MD, Ronald Stout, MD, Kenji Saito, MD
Addressing Environmental Health - Clinician Training and Practice of Environmental Medicine

This guidance paper explores the role of occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) clinicians, comprising both physicians and advanced practice providers, such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants, in addressing environmental health concerns in both clinical practice and prevention policies. It also provides a discussion on emerging environmental occupations, clinical competencies in environmental medicine, and careers
in environmental health.
 

12/02/2024 By Manijeh Berenji, MD, Beth Baker, MD, Pouné Saberi, MD, Robert McLellan, MD, Douglas Wendland, MD, Kevin Trangle, MD, Kenneth Spaeth, MD, Judith Green-McKenzie, MD, Kathleen Fagan, MD
Occupational Electronic Health Records - Recommendations for the Design and Implementation of Information Systems in OEM Practice

Occupational and environmental medicine (OEM) clinicians require specialized electronic health records (EHRs) to address the privacy, data governance, interoperability, and medical surveillance concerns that are specific to occupational health. ACOEM presents 10 recommendations that specialized occupational EHR systems (OEHRs) should meet to serve the information needs and practice requirements of OEM clinicians. 

11/04/2024 By Louis E. Fazen, MD, PhD, Bill E. Martin, IV, MD, MBA, MPH, MMCi, Marcia Isakari, MD, MPH, Michele Kowalski-McGraw, MD, MPH, Robert K. McLellan, MD, MPH, Raj Ahsan, MD, MPH, Manijeh Berenji, MD, MPH
Best Practices in Documenting and Coding High-Value Care in Workers' Compensation Encounters

Elements of workers' compensation care deviate from the usual pattern of ambulatory services causing providers of workers’ compensation care to face challenges in billing and auditing practices resulting in underpayment when providing high-value care based on evidence-based guidelines. However, recent changes in Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rules on documentation requirements for coding outpatient evaluation and management encounters offer an opportunity for occupational health clinicians to be paid appropriately for care that follows occupational medicine practice guidelines. This article provides guidance for documenting high-value workers’ compensation care.

07/08/2024 By Marianne Cloeren, MD, MPH, Brian Chen, MD, MPH, David Caretto, MD, MPH
Long COVID

This guidance statement reviews the pathophysiology of severe acute COVID-19 and long COVID and provides pragmatic approaches to long COVID symptoms, syndromes, and conditions in the occupational setting. Disability laws and workers’ compensation are also addressed.

04/08/2024 By Gregg Stave, MD, JD, MPH, Ismail Nabeel, MD, MPH, MS, Quentin Durand-Moreau, MD, MEd
ACOEM Statement on Adult Immunization

ACOEM recommends that adults follow immunization recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to reduce their risks from vaccine‐preventable illnesses. ACOEM believes that staying current with immunization recommendations will help protect the health of the American workforce, avoid needless work absences, and ultimately promote a healthy economy.
 

01/18/2024
A Comprehensive Obesity Benefit as a Guide for Employers on the Core Components of Obesity Care: Guidance from ACOEM Roundtable on Obesity

This article focuses on the core components of obesity care and the need for employers to offer a comprehensive obesity benefit (COB) as part of employee insurance coverage. In May 2022, ACOEM convened a roundtable meeting, which brought together five corporate medical directors and representatives from aerospace/defense and energy industries to learn about the disease of obesity and provide clinical insights regarding health and safety in their respective industries. 

12/04/2023 By Christine Gallagher, MPAff, Julie Ording, MPH
Role and Value of the Corporate Medical Director

The role of the Corporate Medical Director (CMD) has received increased attention during the COVID-19 pandemic and has continued to evolve. This updated guidance addresses the role and value of the CMD in maintaining and enhancing worker health and productivity.

12/04/2023 By Gregg Stave, MD, Wayne Burton, MD, Richard J.L. Heron, MB ChB, T. Warner Hudson, MD, J. Brent Pawlecki, MD, David Roomes, MB ChB, Martin Sepulveda, MD, Michael Rendel, MD, Pamela Hymel, MD
Legalization of Cannabis - Implications for Workplace Safety

ACOEM has revised it 2019 position statement on cannabis use, advocating for increased research and collaboration between all stakeholders in defining and/or measuring the impairment risks of cannabis products use as it relates to the workplace. This includes the development and implementation of scientifically based methods for monitoring and testing for impairment from any of the myriad of substances that can cause it. Workplace policies that employers should establish are addressed.

 

08/23/2023 By ACOEM Task Force on Cannabis