“People are still under this misconception that ERs are overused because of insignificant problems – sprained ankles and sore throats. That’s just not true anymore, and hosting your legislator is one way to help address that particular myth,” Dr. Cowling said. She cites the recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that showed that just 7.9% of emergency department visits are for truly “non-urgent” problems.

Dr. Cowling’s site-visit encounters with Rep. David Camp (R-Mich.) have been instrumental in not only dispelling myths but also strengthening relationships. “He sees firsthand how busy we are, and the problems that occur when patients don’t have access to care or when Medicare patients don’t get their medications,” Dr. Cowling said. “Making this connection is something that builds over time.”

She meets with the Congressman and his assistant Brian Sutter each year, and often forwards documents and articles that she thinks they’ll find helpful. The upshot, she adds, is that the legislators now have a better sense of what occurs daily.

Like Dr. Vasquez, Tripp Jennings, M.D., of Columbia, S.C., also encountered the surprise factor when he hosted Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) in August.

“He was frankly surprised that the percentage of non-emergent ED visits was so low, and that the issue of boarding in general is not mostly about illegal immigrants,” said Dr. Jennings, medical informatics officer for Palmetto Health and president of ACEP’s South Carolina chapter. “I think that he also left with a better understanding of the difficulties facing emergency medicine physicians and our patients.”

The encounter was a mutually beneficial one, Dr. Jennings said.

“What made me happy was that he’d actually taken the time to read the information we had sent before his visit,” he said, adding that hosting physicians needn’t have a specific agenda or “winning point” to make.

“Every time you can get in front of a legislator one-on-one and talk about emergency medicine, it sets the stage for the future. Forming these relationships will make the difference, I think, in what we can get accomplished ultimately,” Dr. Jennings said.

Douglas Kupas, M.D., with QGeisinger Health System in Danville, Pa., who with his colleague John Skiendzielewski, M.D., hosted Sen. Robert “Bob” Casey (D-Pa.) in 2009, agreed that while it’s helpful to have a “hook” for the invitation, it’s not a must. The two physicians spurred interest in a visit based on a recent Senate bill that proposes greater use of simulation technologies in medical training to improve patient safety, but the ensuing encounter provided an opportunity to inform the Senator on other emergency medicine issues that ultimately affect safety.