It’s impossible for an individual to evaluate all those candidates and their stands on the issues confronting our specialty. By supporting NEMPAC, however, you can be assured that your donation will fund pro-emergency medicine candidates who will consider the issues that are important to you and your patients.

Your contribution to NEMPAC also has a greater impact because it is pooled with contributions from other ACEP members. One large donation to a legislator on behalf of emergency medicine makes a bigger impact than a number of small donations from numerous individuals. One of the most innovative and effective ways to consolidate contributions is through emergency physician group donations. ACEP members in groups of all sizes are joining together to pool their contributions and make a greater impact for the future of the specialty.

NEMPAC also expands your influence beyond your own legislative district. It helps direct money to candidates and officeholders you may not know but who support issues important to emergency medicine. The NEMPAC Board of Trustees, which is composed of emergency physicians just like you from around the country, makes carefully studied, well-informed decisions about whom to support, with the input of ACEP staff and chapter leaders. Every donation helps promote emergency medicine’s advocacy agenda.

The Obama administration’s recent press for final enactment of health care reform legislation should have provided a powerful stimulus for every emergency physician to become involved in ACEP’s advocacy efforts. As I write this, the final outcome of that initiative is still unknown, but what we do know is that our specialty must continue to have a seat at the table and a voice in the outcome.

The support provided by the members of ACEP has made NEMPAC a critically important part of our advocacy agenda for the past 30 years. The issues raised by the health care debate are by no means over. The future will bring more debate and more changes to the system that will affect you, your specialty, and your patients.

You can continue to have a voice by supporting NEMPAC today and in the future.