Medical Malpractice
When someone walks into an emergency room in Maryland, Virginia, or D.C., they usually assume the hospital is responsible for the care they receive. But in most cases, that is not how emergency medicine works anymore. The doctor who sees you in the ER is not a hospital employee. Instead, they are often part of a private staffing company, one that contracts with the hospital to run its emergency department. One of the biggest of these companies is Envision Healthcare, which operates in this region through a group once known as Emergency Medicine Associates (EMA).
Envision is not a name most patients know, but in hospital malpractice litigation, it is often one of the central defendants. The company staffs emergency rooms, urgent care centers, and hospitalist units across the Mid-Atlantic. When a patient is misdiagnosed, discharged too early, or suffers a catastrophic injury due to delayed treatment in the ER, Envision is frequently the entity on the hook—legally and financially.
From EMA to Envision: A Quiet Shift with Big Consequences
Emergency Medicine Associates was once a standalone physician group that staffed emergency departments in dozens of hospitals across Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Over time, it became part of Envision Healthcare, a national player in outsourced medical staffing. This transition reflects a broader shift in how emergency care is delivered: away from hospital-employed doctors and toward corporate-run physician groups whose business model prioritizes efficiency, scale, and profitability.
This structure creates real problems when things go wrong. For patients and families seeking accountability after a serious emergency room error, it often comes as a shock to learn that the hospital where the harm occurred may not even be the primary defendant. Instead, the case will involve Envision, operating through EMA or a related entity, as the actual employer of the emergency physician or mid-level provider involved.
Why This Matters in a Malpractice Case
Understanding who you are suing—and why—is not just a technicality. It shapes how the case is investigated, how it is defended, and how it ultimately resolves. Envision has a national legal defense network, deep financial resources, and a reputation for aggressively contesting liability. But that also means it is a known quantity. Lawyers who understand the company’s structure, internal protocols, and litigation history can build stronger, more targeted cases that push past the confusion and hold the right parties accountable.
What Is Emergency Medicine Associates, and Who Really Staffs Your ER?
Emergency Medicine Associates, once an independent physician group founded in 1971, is now part of Envision Healthcare, a national corporation that provides outsourced physician staffing for hospitals and urgent care centers. Operating primarily in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia, EMA remains a key player in the regional emergency medicine space, though few patients realize who is actually treating them when they enter a hospital emergency department.
Despite the hospital logos on the walls, many patients in Maryland are seen not by hospital-employed doctors but by providers contracted through Envision, via its EMA division. These providers staff emergency rooms, inpatient units, intensive care departments, and urgent care centers. EMA physicians work in both emergency and hospitalist roles, and the company also supplies specialists in pediatrics, neonatology, and critical care. Its scope spans from attending deliveries in neonatal intensive care units to handling high-volume emergency departments and outpatient urgent care clinics.
The company’s model is profit-driven. Envision invests heavily in digital marketing and patient acquisition strategies, and it operates at a scale that prioritizes efficiency. Yet this corporate structure often creates confusion—and potential accountability gaps—when something goes wrong. Many people do not realize that the doctor who misdiagnosed them, discharged them too early, or failed to order critical testing was not actually employed by the hospital itself.
EMA currently staffs or has staffed emergency departments and urgent care facilities at numerous hospitals throughout Maryland, including Carroll Hospital Center, MedStar Montgomery Medical Center, Doctors Community Hospital, and the University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center. In Virginia, its reach includes facilities such as Mary Immaculate Hospital, Prince William Medical Center, and Reston Hospital. The company also provides emergency coverage in parts of Washington, D.C., including Sibley Memorial Hospital and United Medical Center, as well as Jefferson Medical Center in West Virginia.
For families pursuing malpractice claims, understanding who actually employs the physician at issue is critical. Emergency Medicine Associates, now under the Envision Healthcare umbrella, is often the proper defendant in claims arising out of negligent emergency care, particularly in cases involving missed diagnoses, delayed treatment, or premature discharges.
Emergency Medicine Associates provides physician staffing for hospitals in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and D.C. Created in 1971, Emergency Medicine Associates (EMA) treats over 750,000 patients each year.
EMA’s services include:
- Emergency Medicine
- Hospitalist Medicine
- Pediatrics
- Critical Care
- Urgent Care
- Neonatology
- Sports Medicine
- Telemedicine
Legal Defense Team
In Maryland, they have been defended by Armstrong, Donohue, Ceppos, and Vaughan as well as Ronald Shaw at Shaw, Morrow, and Joseph, P.A. Emergency Medicine Associates has been defended in Virginia by attorneys at Rawls, MeNelis and Mitchell, P.C. in Virginia.
If you are filing a medical malpractice lawsuit against Emergency Medicine Associates in Maryland, you will serve:
Jury Verdicts & Settlements
We have only been able to find one verdict against Emergency Medicine Associates.
- $574,510 Verdict. A 75-year-old woman goes to Carroll Hospital with deep vein thrombosis in her leg and diabetes. The hospital discharges her with prescriptions for blood thinners. Two nights later, she awakens with excruciating pain in her hip and groin. An ambulance brings her to the hospital, where a physician assistant cares for her for five hours. A physician assumes her care but fails to perform any diagnostic tests. After diagnosing her with musculoskeletal pain associated with deep vein thrombosis, they discharged her to a nursing home. The following morning, the woman returns to the hospital in hemorrhagic shock. She dies six weeks later. Her family files an emergency room malpractice lawsuit that claims that the physician assistant and physician were negligent in failing to timely diagnose and treat the woman’s hematoma. They allege that this led to her shock and subsequent death. The defendant denies that they deviated from the standard of care and argues that they had no reason to assume there was internal bleeding. A jury found for the plaintiff and awarded her Estate $8,900 for funeral expenses, $252,000 to her husband for loss of consortium, $125,000 for her pain and suffering, and $30,000 to each of her five children, for a total award of $547,510. (2016 WL 1260924)
Getting a Lawyer for Your Hospital Malpractice Claim
Contact Miller & Zois today if you or someone you love has suffered or killed by medical malpractice. Get a free consultation online or give us a call at 800-553-8082 to talk to one of our attorneys. Our medical negligence law firm has a significant history of large settlements and verdicts in emergency room medical malpractice cases in Maryland.
Other Information & Related Topics
- Emergency room malpractice claims
- An overview of medical malpractice claims: what does it take to bring a claim?
- What is the potential value of a medical malpractice case?