CAL/ACEP advocates for you in California ’s legislative and regulatory arenas.  A large percentage of your CAL/ACEP membership dollars go to support lobbying efforts in Sacramento .

CAL/ACEP also offers a wide array of other member services, such as informative, low-cost and free educational conferences.   

ADVOCACY  

• Advocacy at the state level in the capitol and in various departments of state government (i.e. DMHC, DHS, etc.)
• Full-time, on-site legislative advocate and staff
• Services of long-time CAL/ACEP contract lobbyist, Jim Randlett

• Advocacy for County EMS and Indigent Programs
• initiate contact with county staffs
• establish best practices for reimbursement programs
• identify and resolve concerns for reimbursement

• Public Relations
• initiate contact with media sources
• respond to requests from media

PUBLICATIONS/COMMUNICATIONS

• Lifeline--CAL/ACEP’s monthly newsletter
• CAL/ACEP Website
• Electronic Grassroots communications via our CapWiz system

 EDUCATION

• Low-cost Educational Conferences
• Emergency Medicine at Yosemite (January)
• Legislative Leadership Conference – free—(March)
• Annual Scientific Assembly (June)
• Emergency Medicine Ultrasound Course (May)
• Annual Residents Conferences -- free

• Full ACEP Membership
• Annals of Emergency Medicine
• AACEP News
• Washington DC advocacy

CAL/ACEP is your voice both at the state and federal level.  Without this unified presence, we would be unable to continue fighting for our patients and our specialty.  Please consider joining CAL/ACEP; your patients and family will thank you.

ACEP Accomplishments

June 2003 [from http://www.acep.org/1,32499,0.html]

The American College of Emergency Physicians has been emergency medicine's leading advocate for more than 30 years. Over the past several years ACEP's advocacy efforts have taken on a new urgency as the specialty was hit hard by the medical liability crisis, overcrowded emergency rooms and other issues of national importance.

In response, ACEP has increased its lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill and has been actively involved in advocating for legislation that supports emergency physicians on issues such as medical liability, Medicare payment cuts and EMTALA. ACEP also continues to develop new clinical and public policies and has increased its public relations efforts to present a realistic and positive public image of the specialty. In addition, ACEP has remained responsive to the financial needs of its members and has not increased dues in the past six years.

The following list of significant College accomplishments highlights the important role ACEP plays in representing the interests of the individual emergency physician.

Supporting medical liability insurance reform

• Made issue a top priority for 2003
• Lobbied for passage of the HEALTH Act, which was approved by the House of Representatives
• Created a Professional Liability Task Force to examine the issue and propose possible solutions
• Implemented nationwide campaign publicizing effects of crisis on emergency medicine
• Supporting President Bush’s call for liability reform
• ACEP Board members agree not to provide expert witness testimony
• Promoting ACEP policy on expert witness qualifications
• Facilitated a debate about tort reform between the American Medical Association’s president-elect Dr. Donald Palmisano and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America’s president Mary Alexander at this year’s Leadership and Legislative Issues Conference.

Continue to work for solutions to overcrowding crisis

• Provided the emergency medicine perspective to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations for the creation of its standard on overcrowding
• Submitted comments supporting JCAHO’s overcrowding standard
• Encouraged the General Accounting Office to conduct a study on overcrowding that was completed in Spring 2003
• Co-sponsored symposium with JCAHO seeking solutions to overcrowding
• Issued joint advisory with the American Hospital Association detailing immediate strategies to help ease overcrowding
• Initiated series of meetings in Washington, DC with the JCAHO, AMA, and the American Public Health Association to develop strategies

Supported legislation that stopped a 4.4 percent cut to physician Medicare payments

• Bill passed by Congress increased Medicare payments by $54 million over 10 years, leading to a 1.6 percent increase in payments in 2003
• Congress also included an additional $3.5 million for trauma/EMS programs
• Supporting legislative action to correct the flawed formula used by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to set physician Medicare payment rates

Led the successful effort to overturn a CMS directive allowing states to limit the number of ED visits made by Medicaid recipients

• Informed media of CMS action and its consequences
• Provided information to Senate leaders
• Brought together a coalition of hospital and physician groups to lobby against directive
• Lobbied Bush administration officials

Addressing emergency medicine’s concerns about smallpox vaccination policy to the Department of Health and Human Services and White House

• Lobbied for the creation of a smallpox compensation fund that included language specifically addressing emergency physicians
• Supported the passage of the smallpox compensation fund
• Provided educational resources to ACEP members about the fund and the vaccination
• Representing EM position to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Developed and implemented smallpox vaccination policy

Worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on identification and containment strategies of SARS

• Provided emergency medicine perspective to the study of the new disease
• Created resource page on ACEP web site

Protested certain providers’ decision to refuse reimbursement for the use of hand-held ultrasound devices weighing less than six pounds

• Worked with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American College of Surgeons to co-sponsor a resolution opposing the decision to deny payments that was presented to the American Medical Association House of Delegates.

Provided comments offering the emergency medicine perspective on the Medicare Provider Enrollment Draft Regulation

Worked with Sen. Max Bauchus on the introduction of the Health Care Safety Net Oversight Act of 2003 (SNOPAC), which would create a commission to monitor the stability of the health care system

• Advocated for language that, for the first time, specifies emergency department as a critical element of the safety net

Organized the first Rural Emergency Medicine Summit to address the problem of delivery of emergency care in rural areas

• Presented recommendations to ACEP’s Board of Directors concerning recruiting and retaining physicians in rural areas
• Published conference proceedings in Annals of Emergency Medicine
• Invited representatives from the American Academy of Family Physicians, National Rural Health Association, Office of Rural Health Policy, Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, American Board of Emergency Medicine, the National Rural Resource Center, Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association and the Residency Review Committee

Encouraged the House Ways and Means Committee to consider the creation of an advisory group that would examine the effectiveness of EMTALA laws

Collaborated with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to conduct a survey on the uninsured patients who visit the emergency department

Created a policy on alcohol abuse and motor vehicle safety

Contributed to the defense fund of the Association of American Medical Colleges and National Matching Program, which are the subject of an anti-trust lawsuit

Developed educational materials to clarify the significant changes included in new teaching physician documentation guidelines

Identified problem with Medicare rules involving non-physician providers and developed solution with CMS 

• Rules were changed to make it easier for physicians to bill for those services

Representing emergency medicine on CPT task force that is developing a new methodology to eliminate the need for documentation guidelines

Have not increased membership dues for six years.

Approved a “physicians’ bill of rights” that delineates the rights and responsibilities of emergency physicians

• Advocates for due process and against restrictive covenants
• Developed information papers on starting a democratic group, keeping an emergency department contract, on-call issues, and a policy on the role of the mid-level practitioner

Supporting state chapter efforts to pass state prudent layperson laws

• The prudent layperson standard is now law in 32 states and Washington, DC, and covers 145 million Americans

Became a charter member of the coalition urging Congress to develop a national policy to strengthen community readiness for biological, chemical, and nuclear attack

• Advocating for increased federal funding of public health departments, emergency departments, hospitals, fire services, ambulance and emergency medical services (EMS) organizations, medical education institutions, and the nursing profession

Completed work on a government project pertaining to "Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Weapons of Mass Destruction"

• Final report identified objectives, content, and competencies for the training of emergency medical technicians, emergency physicians, and emergency nurses to care for casualties resulting from terrorist incidents
• Submitted grant to complete phase two of project

Implemented nationwide public relations program focused media attention on the important role emergency medicine plays in America’s health care system

• President-elect J. Brian Hancock opened The NASDAQ Market to kick off EMS Week 2003
• Coordinated development of articles with US News and World Report for cover story on problems with overcrowding
• Hosted a joint press conference with the American Hospital Association to highlight ED overcrowding

Successfully lobbied The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to initiate a separate payment classification for observation services for chest pain, asthma, and congestive heart failure

The National Emergency Medicine Political Action Committee (NEMPAC) contributed approximately $400,000 to 212 candidates in the 2000-2002 election cycle

• NEMPAC supported candidates won 194 of their races for a win/loss ratio of 92 percent to 8 percent

Wrote and submitted numerous comment letters to government regulatory agencies on topics such as ED crowding, EMTALA, Medicare payment cuts, documentation guidelines, and others.

Instituted a membership category for physicians that retire from active practice

Implemented a revised discounted dues structure for physicians that recently completed their residency training and are moving into active practice

All ACEP members receive free online access to Annals of Emergency Medicine

• Annals continues to have the highest "impact factor" among emergency medicine journals, according to the Science Citation Index. The impact factor is the amount of published research cited in other journals and is regarded as the measure that determines the quality of journals

ACEP Clinical Policies Committee recently developed clinical policies on

• Deep Vein Thrombosis
• Early Pregnancy
• Pulmonary Embolism

Continued to pay all of the administrative expenses and provide staff support to the Emergency Medicine Foundation (EMF), which awarded more than $454,000 in research grants in 2002

Patient Safety Task Force presented the emergency medicine perspective in responding to the Institute of Medicine report on medical errors