PACEP NEWS FALL 2018
Executive Privilege THANKS TO YOU!
Ankur A. Doshi, MD, FACEP PACEP President
What a busy second half of 2018! Your PACEP leadership team and fellow PACEP members have been working hard on a myriad of EM-related issues in 2018, with many successes. We couldn’t do it without your support! I thought I should use my space this month in letting you know about the recent victories we’ve had, and then discuss the road ahead. Legislatively, your PACEP Governmental Affairs Committee has helped pass legislation important to us in the ED, and even more importantly, continue to fight against poor legislation. First, we opposed further restrictions on opioid prescribing, such as the ban on the use of fentanyl in hospitals. By explaining to legislators that deaths from fentanyl are not caused by diverted medications in the U.S., we helped them realize that taking away this medication from physicians only needlessly ties our hands and won’t change overdose deaths. Additionally, the PACEP Governmental Affairs Committee successfully amended legislation that revises the PA organ donation regulations to make them more in line with national guidelines. Finally, we collaborated with the Pennsylvania Emergency Nurses Association (PA-ENA) to pass legislation that allows our EMS colleagues to collect payment from insurance companies, even when they do not transport a patient to the hospital. This is a huge win for EMS agencies and will go a long way to helping solidify prehospital care in many parts of the Commonwealth. From a regulatory front, PAMED President (and PACEP member!) Ted Christopher, MD, FACEP and I met with the Secretary of Health, Rachel Levine, MD, about a number of EM regulations, as these are presently up for revision. Sec. Levine was supportive when we asked to include language that Board Certified Emergency Physicians do not require “merit badges”. Additionally, she agreed to look at regulations regarding treatment of sexual assault patients (and understanding that in some cases, transfer to a tertiary center for a Forensic Examination may be in the patient’s best interest) as well as those regarding patient boarding in the ED. This summer we held our PACEP Membership Drive which has helped us raise the number of members to almost 1,800! Congrats to our Connie, our Exec (see below), and the Communications and Membership Committee! The committee also began the roll out of engagED, our new association management software that we share with national ACEP (website). This program will help us share information more efficiently. Thirdly, we have just completed our first ever PEP-PAC Annual Challenge. This drive netted over $3,000 dollars that we can use to pass legislation important to emergency physicians. continued on page 2