Councillor’s Corner

By Benjamin Karfunkle, MD, YPS Alternate Councilor, and John R. Corker, MD, YPS Councilor

It’s already the end of July, friends, and that means that we’re gearing up for ACEP’s annual Council Meeting!

The full Council will meet Friday and Saturday, Oct. 25-26 at the Hyatt Regency before the rest of ACEP19 takes place across the street at the Colorado Convention Center.

Resolutions are already being collected for the Council to consider. If you have a resolution idea you’ve been working on, please email your YPS Councilors for help making your resolution a reality. Resolutions are due to ACEP by July 27. If you are interested in taking part in the Council Meeting as an alternate councilor for your YPS, email your councilors and staff liaison Darrin Scheid at corkerj@gmail.com,bkarfunk@gmail.com, anddscheid@acep.org.  

The YPS section is already sponsoring two resolutions with the American Association of Women Emergency Physicians (AAWEP) – one asking ACEP to encourage pay transparency in the EM workforce, and another encouraging residencies to provide training about implicit bias in medicine. There are resolutions from members and other sections that we will be reviewing this week, so it’s not too late to add yours as well! If this is going to be your first time at ACEP, take a look at the ACEP 101 Guide for Young Physicians to help make sense of it.

Your YPS section is meeting after Council, noon- 2 p.m. on October 27. Come meet us in person to review actions taken by the Council, to plan for next year, and for an opportunity to sit and talk with a slate of ACEP’s national leaders who have been making waves.

While we’ve been getting ready for Denver, your ACEP leadership has continued working on the largest issue facing EM today – surprise billing. ACEP President Vidor Friedman, MD, FACEP, put it better than I ever could; please watch his call to protect our patient’s and our own practices. Out of network billing is a complicated issue that leaves our patients trapped by insurers not willing to pay for emergency care. Look forward to some educational material specifically for physicians early in their career coming soon from ACEP. In the meantime, we encourage you to contact your Representatives about supporting HR 3502 sponsored by our own Dr. Raul Ruiz (D-CA).

Your YPS leadership is here to work for you. If you see a need for ACEP action critical to physicians early in our practices, we are here to make it happen. Contact us with ideas for resolutions by July 20. If you would like to participate in the process, contact your councilors and our staff liaison Darrin Scheid at dscheid@acep.org.