Winter 2013: Fellowship in the ACEP Washington DC Office

POSTED: September 6th, 2013
POSTED IN: Winter 2013,

Sarah Hoper, MD
Washington University

My month as an intern at the ACEP Washington DC office was eye opening! I was selected for the ACEP/EMRA Mini Fellowship and went to DC for the month of November. Every year EMRA awards three residents with a stipend to go to the DC office. The office also accommodates residents that did not apply or were not granted the stipend but there is not any financial assistance.

My first week at the office was concentrated on the elections! ACEP closely followed the local elections of candidates they supported financially. ACEP chooses to support local candidates based on their health legislation history or the candidates promise to support health legislation when elected. ACEP does not consider party affiliation. This year only one of the candidates that ACEP supported was not elected. The DC office was also closely following the presidential election. The question was looming whether the ACA was here to stay. If Romney was elected it was likely that the ACA would not have been implemented. However, the re-election of President Obama assured that the ACA would stay on track.

The next weeks were filled with breakfasts and lunches to meet the newly elected legislators. Dr. Raul Ruiz was particularly inspiring. Dr. Ruiz is an emergency physician from California who defeated longtime incumbent Mary Bono Mack. Dr. Ruiz grew up in the Coachella Valley, an economic depressed location. He helped to pay his way through college by drawing up contracts with local businesses promising an investment in him was an investment in the community because he would come back to serve…and he did. Dr. Ruiz was told it was impossible to beat Mary Bono Mack, until he met with an election consultant who told him there was a 95% chance he would lose. His response was, “You mean I can win?” because no one else had even given him a 5% chance of winning.

The DC office also has a public relations department. I had the opportunity to sit in on a meeting with a PR firm to discuss ACEP’s response to Choosing Wisely. ACEP is planning an extensive campaign to promote health cost savings from the emergency department. ACEP has formed a committee to investigate money saving measures that has yet to release their recommendations. However, when the recommendations are released, the DC office and the PR firm will initiate a national campaign to educate EM physicians, politicians and the general public about the recommendations. The plan is to illustrate the efficiency and economic value of emergency departments.

The most valuable part of my experience was meeting the DC office staff. Jeanne Slade, Lupe Gonzalez, Brad Gruehn, Jamie Miller, Barbara Tomar, Laura Gore, Elaine Salter and the rest of the staff are wonderful. They are eager to help and will go out of their way to accommodate you. In fact, I have already called upon the staff to help me find speakers for Resident’s Day at the Leadership and Advocacy Conference. I know I will never hesitate to directly contact the DC staff to help me in the future.

I had a great time in DC. I would encourage any resident with an interest in health policy to go to DC, get to know the ACEP staff and see what ACEP is doing for emergency physicians in the Capitol.