ACEP chapters across the country prove that when emergency physicians unite, real change happens. These state legislative and policy wins are possible because ACEP members are coming together and speaking out in coordinated advocacy campaigns informed by frontline experience.

From strengthening protections on the job and protecting physician-led care, to combating corporate interests in medicine, and more, ACEP state advocacy empowers emergency physicians at work and improves patient care.

Oregon: Keeping Corporate Interests Out of Medicine

ACEP strongly supports national and state efforts to address the threats posed by consolidation and corporate overreach.

Oregon ACEP (OR-ACEP) played a leading advocacy role in the adoption of a new state law ensuring patient care is managed by physicians, not corporations. The law prohibits corporations from influencing physician clinical decisions, staffing, or management. It also bans non-compete clauses that restrict physicians’ due process rights.

Over months of deep negotiation, the chapter made sure legislators heard persistently and directly from emergency physicians about how corporate overreach accelerates burnout and contributes to workforce shortages, among other complicating factors.

In written testimony, the chapter said, “The relationship between patient and physician is sacred because we uphold the beneficial interest and autonomy of the patient as most important. OR-ACEP believes the doctor and patient relationship is the center of medicine. Clinical decisions should only be made by a physician.”

These victories are aligned with ACEP’s comprehensive advocacy strategy to protect the physician-patient relationship and preserve emergency physicians’ jobs, well-being, and autonomy.

Several States Improve Safety Protections for Emergency Physicians

ACEP is making sure that legislators and health care leaders across the country hear directly from emergency physicians: violence should never be considered “just part of the job.”

New York ACEP supported a bill that empowers victims of workplace assault to give statements at their job sites and requires hospital committees to review instances of violence.

“Our health care professionals deserve a workplace free from violence. The passage of this bill reaffirms that the safety of those who care for our communities must be a priority,” said Dr. Penelope C. Lema, president-elect of New York ACEP.

In a 2024 ACEP poll, 91 percent of emergency physicians said that they, or a colleague, had been victims of violence in the past year.  The Ohio ACEP chapter’s advocacy helped enact a law aiming to prevent hospital violence through enhanced training, improved incident tracking and reporting, and strengthened security plans.