ACEP state advocacy impacts the lives and careers of every emergency physician, every day. ACEP chapters continue to tally state legislative and policy wins by sharing their experience with public officials, and organizing bold campaigns on the issues that matter most.

The ACEP advantage is unmistakable. Chapters across the country are seeing success when they leverage the relationships and expertise that only ACEP can provide. Working together, physician advocates are making the case to protect physician leadership, address boarding, and strengthen on-the-job protections that you need and deserve. And that barely scratches the surface.

California: Stopping Insurer Downcoding

Emergency physicians are standing up to insurance companies and demanding an end to bad behaviors. ACEP, alongside CalACEP and the California Medical Association, sent a letter in July to expose Aetna’s bad behavior to the full California Congressional delegation. The letter outlined the insurer strategy to “downcode,” or lower the severity of physician and facility claims for emergency services, for commercial, Medicare Advantage, and student health policies.

Aetna could not withstand the pressure and announced it would halt these dangerous and misguided policies in California. This is a major win for California’s emergency physicians and patients, and a direct result of ACEP advocacy.

While the specific tactics mentioned in the letter are no longer a threat to practices or patients in California, Aetna has not committed to dropping these policies in any other states. The work is far from finished. ACEP will continue to expose insurers acting in bad faith and will never stop fighting for ACEP members.

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ACEP Needs to Hear From You

Are you experiencing insurance company behavior that puts you or your patients at risk? Your experience fuels ACEP advocacy across the country.

Connecticut: Increasing Hospital Accountability to Address Boarding

Sometimes, impactful change happens because of emergency physicians’ work behind the scenes. Connecticut ACEP members moved the levers of state government by participating in a boarding and crowding working group in January.

Emergency physicians helped compel the group to recommend that the Connecticut Department of Public Health develop and mandate publicly reported quality measures on emergency department boarding. The resulting metrics and dashboard are another major win for emergency physicians and patients.

This data collection and sharing will enhance efforts to increase transparency, inform public policy, and help drive the systemic solutions necessary to meaningfully address the crisis of boarding in emergency departments.