Thanks to a newly constituted board, the generosity of members, and the prospect of a new presidential administration and Congress focused on health care reform, ACEP’s political action committee, the National Emergency Medicine Political Action Committee, has seen a record-breaking level of fundraising success in 2008.

For the first time ever, NEMPAC exceeded the goal of $1 million set by the ACEP Board of Directors, with a total 2008 donation tally of $1,045,136.

“We’ve been very active in fundraising activities,” said Dr. Bruce S. Auerbach, chairman of the NEMPAC Board of Trustees. “We constituted our board to ensure that we had people who were large donors themselves and had ideas for innovative approaches and were comfortable talking to colleagues. So, the board has been instrumental in facilitating contributions this year.”

ACEP President Nick Jouriles, M.D., said one reason the 2008 fundraising campaign was so successful is that “ACEP members are overachievers.”

“Despite the sour economy, our members made record contributions to NEMPAC in 2008, which shows that we are committed to being a very strong voice for our patients in Washington, D.C.,” he said.

At the 2008 Scientific Assembly in Chicago, Dr. Jouriles called on every ACEP member to contribute $250 a year to NEMPAC, hoping to build a “war chest” of $6 million and the largest medical PAC in the country.

During the 2-day 2008 Council meeting before Scientific Assembly, NEMPAC raised more than $259,440, doubling the previous record.

Why Members Pitched in

The fact that NEMPAC is, as Dr. Auerbach calls it, “party-blind” enhanced the success of its efforts: NEMPAC contributions are “based on emergency medicine and ACEP priorities,” rather than on whether a candidate belongs to a certain political party, Dr. Auerbach said.

Emergency physician groups also played a major role in NEMPAC’s 2008 success, with unprecedented contributions to the campaign. The group approach began in 2007, with CEP America leading the way.

NEMPAC support from CEP America in Laguna Hills, Calif., evolved from a state-level group plan.

“For several years, CEP America has been the anchor contributor to the California Emergency Medicine Advocacy Fund (CEMAF),” said Dr. Wesley Fields, chairman of the Emergency Medicine Political Action Committee of the California Chapter of ACEP (CAL ACEP), and a member of the CEP America board of directors.

“CEMAF was designed as a group-level campaign, with like-minded groups pledging 20 cents per ED visit in support of emergency medicine in Sacramento,” he explained. “This program has been a huge success.”