The Indy Class sessions were comprehensive, covering as much as possible in a few short days: how to start an independent group, potential pitfalls, budgets and projections, payment models, vendor management, hospital and employee contracts, staffing, retention, payer trends, and more. The course was a mix of 30-minute lectures and breakout discussions, allowing all attendees to network, interact, and ask specific questions to the faculty and other experts at the conference. Drs. Langille and Ford were treated to a veritable firehose of valuable information, and they did their best to soak it all up.

“These are things that had always been nebulous concepts to me,” said Dr. Ford. “And now I’m really starting to take some concrete features about what I need to do for my group to help us prepare to use these lessons.”

“I’ve learned there is a lot that I need to learn,” joked Dr. Langille. “[I learned] about the nuances of starting your group and things you need to think about in terms of billing and coding. There’s a huge change coming in January 2023 and [we’re learning] what that’s going to look like.”

“Sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know,” Dr. Shoemaker agreed. “Even us, as faculty for the conference—we were listening to the sessions. I was learning new things as well.”

Drs. Shoemaker and Maurer wanted to offer Indy Class scholarships for young physicians because they had benefitted so much from ACEP educational experiences when they were just starting out. As a result, both have gone on to become reimbursement experts for the College and they wanted to pay it forward to the next generation.

Anticipating Emerging Trends in Clinical and Business Practices

Each month, ACEP4U will highlight and expand on a specific pillar of ACEP’s new strategic plan. This month, we focus on the fourth strategic pillar—Practice Innovation.

More than 100 ACEP members were involved in developing ACEP’s new strategic plan to guide the College for the next three to five years. Vik Gulati, MD, FACEP, was part of the planning group that developed the Practice Innovation pillar.

“In order to grow, in order to expand, we‘re going to have to start thinking outside the four walls of the emergency department and start supporting our physicians, no matter where they’re practicing,” said Dr. Gulati, MD, FACEP.

The Practice Innovation pillar features three key strategies focused on revolutionizing acute unscheduled care to anticipate emerging trends in clinical and business practices and developing new career opportunities for EM physicians.