Baer was promoted again to supervising producer for the fifth season. He was responsible for writing a two more episodes, continuing to develop medical storylines for all episodes, and supervising other aspects of production including casting, design, directing, and editing. Baer was also responsible for answering mail relating to the medical aspects of the series and for developing projects that drew on "ER" to promote public health including a series of news segments covering issues related to the series. The fifth season was also nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series at the 1999 awards and Baer shared the nomination for a third time.