Huntington Hospital Emergency Department Receives Designation

HUNTINGTON, NY — Huntington Hospital's emergency department received the Pain and Addiction Care in the Emergency Department (PACED) designation from the American College of Emergency Physicians, the hospital announced on Wednesday.

PACED is a national accreditation program that seeks to improve pain management and substance use care for patients in the emergency department.

“I am proud to say that Huntington Hospital’s emergency department is the first on Long Island to be PACED-accredited,” said Michael Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell Health. “Northwell Health has made it a system-level mission to provide prompt, safe, and effective pain and addiction care for patients, and this designation speaks to our dedication to treating our patients in the most caring and safest way possible.”

Having a PACED designation means that patients will receive the highest level of treatment for pain and addiction while minimizing the use of opioid medications.

“Northwell Health’s goal is to have all 18 of our emergency departments PACED-accredited by the end of this year, making us the first health system in New York State to achieve this designation,” said Sandeep Kapoor, MD, assistant vice president of emergency medicine addiction services at Northwell. “We owe it to our patients and communities to do what we can at the hospital level to humanistic-ally address these stigmatizing conditions.”

The pain crisis, substance use crisis and fatal opioid overdose crisis have led to massive suffering in communities throughout the United States, the hospital stated. Fatal opioid overdoses, the majority of which are caused by fentanyl, caused 108,000 deaths in 2021. By comparison, excessive alcohol use is responsible for more than 95,000 deaths in the United States each year.

Northwell Health stated it is confident that with this accreditation comes heightened awareness, motivation, and strategic prioritization to enhance current clinical offerings in service of those that seek care in the emergency department.

“Emergency department clinicians are in a unique position to treat acute pain and support those dealing with substance use disorders,” said Leonardo Huertas, MD, eastern region vice president for emergency medicine at Northwell Health. “The primary aim of our programming is to accelerate the transfer of knowledge about acute pain and addiction care and provide appropriate resources for patients and families.”