AMISH SHAH, MD, FACEP

(D-AZ-1)

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ACEP Now: Vol 43 – No 10 – October 2024

ACEP MEMBER AMISH SHAH, MD, FACEP (D-AZ-1) is running against incumbent David Schweikert (R-AZ-1) for a House seat in Maricopa County. Dr. Shah trained at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health in New York.

ACEP Now: What are you hoping to accomplish at the federal level that you couldn’t at the state level?

DR. SHAH: The big thing at the federal level is that Medicare and Medicaid are controlled up there at the federal level, right? And a lot of health care financing is done at the federal level that isn’t done at the state level. That’s really it. We did have some control over the state Medicaid system at the state legislature level, which was good. But you’re trying to get everybody covered and lower the costs. I mean that’s really it, and it’s a much bigger problem. CMS controls a lot of the rules for how things are financed, and therefore that’s where you have to go if you want to make changes.

ACEP Now: The FTC is looking into consolidation: What are your thoughts on consolidation among insurers and providers of health care?

DR. SHAH: We have always regulated monopolies in the U.S., and FTC has always been a group that has protected people from monopoly for the benefit of the consumer and for society at large. And we’ve seen in other industries like big tech, they’ve been very hesitant to go after monopolies. Now, I think there is a place for them to carefully examine the market power in any one given industry in a given location and ask whether that meets the definition of monopoly power. I certainly hope they would do that. I was an economics major, you know, and I’d be concerned if somebody were exerting monopoly power at the expense of the consumer.

ACEP Now: Should ER docs unionize to get better working conditions?

DR. SHAH: That’s a complicated question. I attended the ACEP panel on this last year, and they talked about the pros and the cons. It may not be for everybody. Some groups and practices have explored the option, understand what they’re getting into and have concluded that that they’re going to work together to get better outcomes under a unionized model. It has clearly made sense for those groups. It’s not a decision to be taken lightly.