It is easy to dismiss advocacy as simply “politics” or efforts best left to lobbyists. However, as emergency physicians, you practice advocacy every day. Every time you stand up on behalf of a vulnerable patient, or struggle to obtain the resources you need to provide quality emergency care for your community you are acting as an advocate.
Unfortunately, the challenges that we must face in order to provide high quality care for our patients goes beyond our local emergency departments and hospitals. Laws such as EMTALA, HIPAA and the Affordable Care Act impact our practice on a daily basis. As emergency physicians, we must work together to insure that safe and high quality emergency care continues to be available to our patients — wherever and whenever we are needed!
Make a Contribution
Listed below are brief descriptions of important issues that both MOCEP and ACEP are working on. This is not an all-inclusive list, but rather a brief background on more commonly discussed issues. Under the “Our Policies” page, you will find Missouri specific issues that have been debated and our stance.
Time Critical Diagnosis (TCD)Medicaid
EMTALAMedical Liability Reform
WorkforceACEP Leadership & Advocacy Conference
As such, MOCEP attempted to discuss this with the Department of Health and Human Services numerous times. Each time we left the meeting feeling as if we made progress only to see nothing change. Last year we were successful in passing legislation that took TCD requirements out of the purview of the Department of Health and Human Services and placed them under the Board of Healing Arts. MOCEP is currently working with other organizations to develop regulations that make sense and are satisfactory to all those involved. Our goals to minimize CME requirements for board-certified physicians need to be balanced with making sure those physicians not certified in emergency medicine are receiving the proper amount of continuing education.
Q: How would cuts in Medicaid affect emergency care?
A recent survey found seven in 10 Americans oppose health plan efforts to deny payments for ER visits. Eighty-five percent of respondents with regular medical providers who sought emergency care said they could not have waited to see their regular providers.
Cuts would increase the burden on emergency departments, threatening their ability to meet the emergency care needs of everyone. Emergency departments are required by federal law to provide medical care regardless of whether a person can pay. Reductions would have a double impact on state Medicaid programs because they receive matching federal dollars. Many states have taken advantage of federal program waivers to change coverage and/or eligibility requirements in the wake of continuing state budget deficits.
Cuts could affect community health centers (CHCs), which derive more than one-third of their total revenue from Medicaid. This could reduce CHCs capacity in a given area and increase use of the emergency department for patients who have no other place to get care.
When other physicians refuse to accept Medicaid patients because reimbursements are so low, patients often have no choice but to turn to emergency departments for care, often after their illnesses become acute. Thirty-one percent of physicians polled by the National Center for Health Statistics expressed an unwillingness to take on new Medicaid patients, compared with 17 percent who didn’t want to accept new Medicare patients and 18 percent who said they weren’t going to accept new privately insured patients. The survey also found that “small practices and, to a certain extent, primary care physicians – had lower-than-average acceptance rates of new Medicaid patients.”
Q. Will cutting Medicaid access to emergency care save money in the long run?
Emergency medical care for all patients — insured and uninsured alike — is just 2 percent of all health care spending in the United States.
Q. How are health plans and state Medicaid offices determining when to deny coverage for emergency care vs. when to cover it?
In response to budget crises, state Medicaid officials in many states have been using the “Billings algorithm” to deny coverage for emergency department visits based on final diagnosis discharge codes, rather than the symptoms that brought the patients to the emergency department. For example, a patient with chest pain, a possible indicator of a heart attack, may be discharged with a diagnosis of heartburn, a non-urgent condition. It applies 20-20 hindsight to health care and in the ER that is bad medicine.
For more information: ACEP Medicaid Fact Sheet
Q. What the state is proposing: LANE vs. MMERP
MOCEP does realize the importance in cutting costs. However, we want to do that in a manner that improves patient care and does not alienate patients. To that extent, MOCEP is working with other organizations on a proposal that would do just that called MMERP. It is aimed at the superutilizers. In essence, we would build a medical home for these patients where they could get the care that they need. To do this, EDs around the state would incorporate EDIE or a similar program. EDIE is a program that would automatically flag charts in the electronic health record. By simply clicking on an icon, the ED provider could see recent testing, notes, and medications for these patients. Instead of repeating large work-ups that had just been completed, the provider could make sure nothing new was occurring and then redirect the patient back to their established care plan. MMERP would save money by assisting physicians in foregoing large and expensive ED evaluations and getting these patients into a medical home which will improve their care. This proposal is still in the early stages but we believe it will improve care while making it more efficient. References to MMERP have already begun to replace LANE in the current budget.
Main Points
Q. What is EMTALA?
Q. How does EMTALA define an emergency?
Q. What is EMTALA’s scope?
Q. What are the provisions of EMTALA?
Additionally, a hospital must report any time it has reason to believe it may have received an individual who has been transferred in an unstable condition in violation of EMTALA.
Q. What are the requirements for transferring patients under EMTALA?
In addition, the transfer of unstable patients must be “appropriate” under the law, such that (1) the transferring hospital must provide ongoing care within it capability until transfer to minimize transfer risks, (2) provide copies of medical records, (3) must confirm that the receiving facility has space and qualified personnel to treat the condition and has agreed to accept the transfer, and (4) the transfer must be made with qualified personnel and appropriate medical equipment.
Q. What are the penalties for violating EMTALA?
A receiving facility, having suffered financial loss as a result of another hospital’s violation of EMTALA, can bring suit to recover damages.
An adverse outcome does not necessarily indicate there is an EMTALA violation; however, a violation can be cited even without an adverse outcome. There is no violation if a patient refuses examination &/or treatment unless there is evidence of coercion.
Q. Who pays for EMTALA-related medical care?
Some health insurance plans retrospectively deny claims for emergency departments visits, based on a patient’s final diagnosis, rather than the presenting symptoms (e.g., when chest pain turns out not to be a heart attack). These practices endanger the health of patients and threaten to undermine the emergency care system by failing to financially support America’s health care safety net.
ACEP advocates for a national prudent layperson emergency care standard that provides coverage based on a patient’s presenting symptoms, rather than the final diagnosis. In addition, health insurers should cover EMTALA-related services up to the point an emergency medical condition can be ruled out or resolved.
Q. Is EMTALA-related care the driver of rising health care costs?
For more information: ACEP EMTALA Fact Sheet
For more information: Liability Reform Data to Support Reform and Rebut Opponent Arguments
ACEP underwrites the majority of expenses for this conference and is very pleased to be able to provide it to ACEP members* for the nominal fee of $150, $40 for resident members, and $290 for SEMPA members.* Space is limited; advance registration is required.
In addition to an exemplary educational experience, your conference registration fee includes 3 breakfasts, 2 luncheons, 2 receptions, transportation to Capitol Hill for visits with your legislators, and daily breaks which include refreshments. The per-registrant cost of food and beverages alone is nearly $500, making these nominal fees an exceptional bargain and member benefit.
For more information on registration: Leadership and Advocacy Conference