ACEP held its annual Leadership and Advocacy Conference in Washington, DC May 5-8, 2019. The meeting had record attendance with over 500 Emergency Physicians from across the country gathering to advocate for issues critical to emergency medicine and our ability to deliver emergency to care to the patients we serve. Emory was represented well by Drs. Clery, Das, DellaGrotta, Gipson, Lairet, and Osborne. We were also joined by fellow Georgia physicians Drs. Medoff and Oyewo (formerly with Emory).
The conference began with a health policy primer hosted by EMRA. The excellent speakers elegantly summarized current issues in healthcare. This included challenges in healthcare financing due to current inadequate insurance coverage for out of network emergency care. Many have probably heard of these issues but may not be intimately aware of the impact on our patients. Nonetheless, “surprise billing” or “narrow networks” is an issue that especially impacts the patients we serve.
The second day of the conference began with the moving narrative of Dr. Brian Williams, a trauma surgeon practicing in Dallas. He a recounted a moving narrative of his journey to medicine growing up in a society plagued with racism both overt and implicit. He shared his moving experience caring for the Dallas police officers in the summer of 2016 in the heat of building racial tensions culminating in his moving remarks during a press conference at Parkland Hospital directly highlighting the challenge of race relations in America. Other speakers delivered inspiring talks on the qualities necessary for success in leadership. Hill staffers presented their recommendations on how to successfully advocate for our issues by using patient or personal narratives and facts/figures. It is important to evoke emotional responses and then back them up with the statistics to prove the case.
Advocacy day began with a briefing from ACEP legislative staffers on the two issues we discussed on the Capitol: increasing funding for care coordination and mental health bed availability for patients presenting to the ED with mental health crises and legislative support to address surprise billing (out of network bills), specifically for those federal plans regulating ERISA (employer funded) health plans. We met with staffers from the offices of Representatives Hank Johnson (GA-4) and John Lewis (GA-5), as well as Senators Johnny Isakson and David Purdue.
The conference, as a whole, was very productive and provided an invaluable opportunity for the physicians in attendance to learn about the legislative process and the important role of physician advocacy. Next year, we hope to continue to grow the representation from Emory and involve more learners to participate in this great experience.
The conference began with a health policy primer hosted by EMRA. The excellent speakers elegantly summarized current issues in healthcare. This included challenges in healthcare financing due to current inadequate insurance coverage for out of network emergency care. Many have probably heard of these issues but may not be intimately aware of the impact on our patients. Nonetheless, “surprise billing” or “narrow networks” is an issue that especially impacts the patients we serve.
The second day of the conference began with the moving narrative of Dr. Brian Williams, a trauma surgeon practicing in Dallas. He a recounted a moving narrative of his journey to medicine growing up in a society plagued with racism both overt and implicit. He shared his moving experience caring for the Dallas police officers in the summer of 2016 in the heat of building racial tensions culminating in his moving remarks during a press conference at Parkland Hospital directly highlighting the challenge of race relations in America. Other speakers delivered inspiring talks on the qualities necessary for success in leadership. Hill staffers presented their recommendations on how to successfully advocate for our issues by using patient or personal narratives and facts/figures. It is important to evoke emotional responses and then back them up with the statistics to prove the case.
Advocacy day began with a briefing from ACEP legislative staffers on the two issues we discussed on the Capitol: increasing funding for care coordination and mental health bed availability for patients presenting to the ED with mental health crises and legislative support to address surprise billing (out of network bills), specifically for those federal plans regulating ERISA (employer funded) health plans. We met with staffers from the offices of Representatives Hank Johnson (GA-4) and John Lewis (GA-5), as well as Senators Johnny Isakson and David Purdue.
The conference, as a whole, was very productive and provided an invaluable opportunity for the physicians in attendance to learn about the legislative process and the important role of physician advocacy. Next year, we hope to continue to grow the representation from Emory and involve more learners to participate in this great experience.
