As I sit down to write this after another great Symposium by the Sea, my first thought is that this year is flying by! I think of time as being somewhat malleable, sometimes kind of loose and fluffy, and sometimes dense and intense—this year has most definitely been the latter.

I want to give a big ‘Thank You’ to the FCEP Board for honoring me with the William T. Heack, MD Member of the Year award. I was surprised, humbled and frankly rendered speechless by this gesture! When I came to Florida over 20 years ago, this chapter welcomed me in and rekindled my desire to further engage with ACEP. I never imagined that it would lead to being elected president of this amazing organization. Thank you for all the support and opportunities that you have given me over the years!

So, what has been going on since my last report, nationally? June started off with a conference call regarding ACEP’s strategy moving forward in regard to our Acute Unscheduled Care Model (AUCM), an Alternative Payment Model for EM. AUCM has been approved by the Physician Technical Advisory Panel and is awaiting approval by the Secretary of HHS. The next day, I worked a shift (I still do that from time to time), then ran to the airport to fly to D.C.

On Wednesday, our stellar D.C. team and I met with staff from the Energy and Commerce Committee (E&C) to prepare for the possibility of testifying the next week on out-of-network (OON) billing. I also had several visits on the Hill with senators and congressmen on key committees and finished the day by attending a fundraising dinner for Sen. Cassidy (R-LA) (your NEMPAC dollars at work!), where I sat with Sen. Blount (R-MO).

Thursday, I flew to New Jersey for a chapter visit with our good friends from NJ-ACEP, where I heard about the great things going on with them and gave an ACEP update at their annual meeting.

Friday, just before I got on the plane to fly to Chicago for the AMA annual meeting, I got a text from Laura Wooster that the E&C committee wanted me to testify on Wednesday regarding OON billing. I managed to change flights on the plane to return to D.C. on Monday night. The weekend was spent at the AMA meeting with many of the other hospital-based specialties, as well as a roundtable discussion regarding OON billing with AMA leadership. By the way, our AMA delegation rocks! ACEP has great, diverse representation at the AMA, which has, and will, continue to serve our specialty very well. This is another place where FCEP members are contributing greatly!

Monday—in Chicago—was filled with more meetings with the hospital-based specialties. In the afternoon, I met with the Joint Commission along with senior staff from ACEP to discuss a laundry list of items of mutual interest. It is all about building relationships!

On Tuesday, I was back in D.C. preparing to testify before E&C on Wednesday with our D.C. team and with several consultants. You do not just breeze in and testify before Congress off the cuff.

Wednesday: time for the big show at the E&C committee. Testifying before Congress is a very unique experience. Each witness has 5 minutes to make a presentation; then every member of the committee has 5 minutes, and in those 5 minutes, they have to ask and have their question(s) answered. I did not get to speak for very long, and only if called upon. I did my best to represent our members well. (Watch Dr. Friedman’s testimony here. Q&A starts at 1:17:50.) 

A week later, I found myself back in Chicago to meet with the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma (ACS-COT), along with Drs. Debra Perina and Christopher Kang (Board members and ACEP liaisons to the ACS-COT). We had an excellent discussion with the COT leadership on items of mutual interest. Then I spent the next couple of days as part of an expert review panel discussing the latest research and recommendations regarding REBOA.

In July, ACEP hosted a very successful Health Information Technology Summit (with over 90 attendees from across the spectrum of HIT) to outline a vision for the future of IT and emergency medicine. We also had a great Corporate Council meeting with over 50 companies and/or vendors in attendance.

By August, I was back in Florida for another awesome Symposium by the Sea and catching up with everyone at home. Nationally, the August recess was the perfect time to ramp up our advocacy efforts regarding OON billing legislation and to improve the bills moving in Congress. I hope you took the opportunity to reach out to your representatives regarding this incredibly important issue.

All part of the marathon one runs as President of ACEP! ■