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From the President- Brent Asplin, MD, MPH, FACEP
Happy New Year! I hope you all had some time to relax with family and friends during the holiday season. This is my first letter as President of MN ACEP, and I would like to begin by thanking Dr. Merle Hillman for his outstanding contributions as President during the past two years. Merle has been tireless in his efforts to promote MN ACEP and the MN DMAT during the past several years, and we all owe him our thanks for working on our behalf.
During the next two years as President, I would like to emphasize three themes for MN ACEP: advocacy, membership, and education. I think these three areas form the foundation of member services that emergency physicians should expect from ACEP. We have a strong history of success in each of these areas, but there is more work to do and I look forward to working with you as we continue to build the chapter.
There is nothing that ACEP does for its members that is more important than advocacy at both the state and federal levels. Back in 2006, ACEP successfully worked through the Relative Value Scale (RVS) Update Committee (better known as the “RUC”) to achieve significant increases in the work RVUs attributed to emergency department management codes. These RVU changes went into effect in 2007, and they have resulted in substantial reimbursement increases for emergency physicians over the past three years. In fact, if you have practiced full-time for the past three years, these RVU increases have already led to reimbursement increases that exceed the cost of ACEP dues for the rest of your career! These RVU changes would never have happened if ACEP was not at the table advocating on your behalf.
At the state level, we have important advocacy issues during the next legislative session. One of the most important is the elimination of the state’s General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) program, which serves low-income adults with catastrophic illness who do not qualify for Medicaid. Although the program is especially important for safety net hospitals such as HCMC and Regions; its elimination will adversely affect a wide range of hospitals throughout the state. Obviously the budget deficit will make solutions to this problem very challenging, but we will be working to find alternatives. We also will be fighting against the repeal of the no-fault law for automobile insurance. Once again, the elimination of no-fault would adversely affect EMS systems and EDs, since the current law mandates reimbursement for the first $20,000 of medical expenses.
On Wednesday February 18th, there will be an Emergency Medicine Advocacy Day at the State Capitol. I encourage you to attend this event and meet with your legislators. It is amazing how much success we can have on the advocacy front simply by showing up. Details about this event will be sent to you.
Thanks to the leadership of Dr. Christine Kletti and the Membership Committee, we have seen strong membership growth during the past 18 months and we are very close to achieving a sixth councilor position for Minnesota at the national ACEP meeting. If any of your colleagues are not MN ACEP members, please encourage them to join. The more members we have, the stronger our voice is and the more effective we can be on your behalf. There are countless examples of the advocacy wins ACEP has had for emergency medicine---the RVU story is just the beginning. The only way we can continue to deliver wins for emergency physicians is to strengthen our voice through ongoing membership growth.
Last month we hosted another successful “Hot Topics” educational conference. The event was well-attended and the presentations were outstanding. In addition to the educational opportunities at the national level, I think it is important for MN ACEP to continue offering regional educational opportunities for our members. Please let us know which topics and formats you would find most helpful, and we will do everything we can to deliver effective educational opportunities close to home.
In closing, I would like to extend an invitation to every member of MN ACEP to get involved in the chapter’s activities. If you would like to participate on a committee, feel free to e-mail Shari Augustin and/or me. There are always opportunities to participate in chapter activities. Ultimately the chapter’s success depends on your active participation. If you have any questions, or if you have comments about how MN ACEP could better serve the needs of emergency physicians, please do not hesitate to contact me. We have an outstanding Board of Directors, and I know that together we will do everything we can to ensure that MN ACEP continues to deliver on behalf of its members.
