ACEP leaders are always working to protect and improve your practice environment. Here’s some of what the ACEP leadership has done for you lately:

Members of ACEP and ACEP staff met with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to discuss care of geriatric patients in VA emergency departments. Among the issues discussed were ways to identify veterans who present to our emergency departments—especially those with mental health issues—and connect them with VA outpatient resources. Also discussed was the potential participation of VA hospitals in the ACEP Geriatric ED Accreditation program.

ACEP Board of Directors member Aisha Liferidge, MD, FACEP, along with senior ACEP staff, attended a two-day conference with the National Institute on Drug Abuse on Jan. 26 and 27, 2018, to discuss potential treatment of patients with opioid addiction. ACEP member Gail D’Onofrio, MD, FACEP, led the meeting. Dr. D’Onofrio is the chair of emergency medicine at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, and is a well-respected researcher in substance abuse disorders.

On Jan. 24, 2018, ACEP President Paul Kivela, MD, MBA, FACEP, and members of ACEP’s senior staff, Loren Rives, Laura Wooster, and Sandra Schneider, MD, FACEP, met with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to discuss mental health and sedation. CMS was very supportive of emergency physicians’ ability to screen all patients with emergency conditions, including those with mental health issues. They continue to agree that emergency physicians are “uniquely qualified” to perform sedation. More clarification is to come.