Our new Emergency Department Pain and Addiction Management Accreditation Program strives to provide better care for patients suffering from opioid use disorder and pain. We will be rolling it out by the first of the year.
ACEP is setting the standards for accreditation of freestanding emergency departments. Another organization, the Center for Improvement in Healthcare Quality, will do the accrediting, but accreditation will be based on standards developed by ACEP.

International

ACEP is upping its efforts to grow internationally in a cost-effective way. We will have a Global Village at ACEP19 and are inviting international societies to attend, we’re hosting an International Summit to bring together EM leaders to discuss successes and challenges to support the growth of emergency medicine worldwide, and we established an International Committee focused on how we can grow our role in worldwide emergency medicine. We are developing a close relationship with the European Society for Emergency Medicine. I believe if we do this the right way, our whole membership will benefit by expanding our international reach and collaborations. We’ll be able to share our expertise and help others while gaining fresh perspective from other countries.

Public Engagement

Our Until Help Arrives program launched at LAC. Until Help Arrives training is similar to Stop the Bleed, but it’s a shorter course and its curriculum includes hands-only CPR. We’re excited to give our members this opportunity to make a positive impact in their communities by teaching bystanders these lifesaving skills.

Reimbursement

We’ve spent a huge amount of time and effort battling the out-of-network issue to prevent insurance companies from significantly reducing reimbursement to our specialty. At the same time, we’re working on other initiatives to prepare for our future reimbursement. We developed the Acute Unscheduled Care Model as a proposed alternative payment model (APM). This was a difficult and expensive project, and we’re proud that our APM is one of the few that has made it through the Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee process and is sitting on the Secretary of Health and Human Services’ desk, waiting for approval. We plan to develop a toolkit, best practices, and other resources to help our members and their ED groups implement this APM. This model, or some variation of it, could be a significant payment methodology in the future, so we think it’s important ACEP continue to provide leadership and guidance on how it is used in our specialty.