To date, more than 1,400 emergency departments and more than 32,500 emergency medical providers have participated in E-QUAL collaboratives. Together, E-QUAL participants can claim:

• $55 million saved through avoidable imaging and hospitalization
• A 23 percent increase in prescribing alternatives to opioids
• A 35 percent decrease in opioids administered in the emergency department

“We have recognized emergency physician groups and departments across the U.S. with the E-QUAL Honor Roll ever since 2017,” said Arjun Venkatesh, MD, FACEP, chair, emergency medicine, Yale School of Medicine, and Lead Investigator, E-QUAL. “This year’s awardees continue to exemplify the critical role and contributions of emergency care to numerous communities and national quality goals.”

See the E-Qual Honor Roll

ACEP Disagrees with Efforts to Cut Student Loan Forgiveness

ACEP is pushing back on efforts to change the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program and other federal student loan programs.

In a letter to the U.S. Committee on Education and Workforce, ACEP shared concerns about some of the provisions in the legislation. ACEP worries that the proposal by the House Education and Workforce Committee would prevent residents from counting residency years toward loan forgiveness and add new limits on federal student aid. The provisions are under discussion as part of the budget reconciliation process. This discussion comes as ACEP advocates sound the alarm on already significant challenges from chronic underfunding, detailed in the RAND report supported by the Emergency Medicine Policy Institute.

In fact, 20 percent of emergency physicians’ care goes entirely unpaid—a $5.9 billion annual loss.

Federal programs like PSLF “are not just a benefit, they are a lifeline for many early-career emergency physicians,” the ACEP letter states. The letter also points out that “excluding time served in a medical residency for PSLF eligibility will erect even greater financial barriers, dissuading a new generation of physicians from pursuing emergency medicine, and jeopardizing the pipeline of those willing to serve in safety net roles. This is also especially true for many physicians pursuing careers in primary care in rural or underserved communities who will find their desired specialty, practice model, or practice location is simply not financially viable long-term.”

There are real concerns that barriers to primary care will drive patients to emergency departments and increase the strain on emergency physicians and care teams.

ACEP is strongly urging Congress to reconsider provisions to eliminate PSLF eligibility for medical residents and cap federal student aid amounts.