“I was pleasantly surprised at how interested Sen. Casey was in everything that we talked with him about. Usually, when you deal with these folks you expect them to be on a really close time schedule,” said Dr. Kupas, Geisinger’s associate chief academic officer for medical student and resident affairs.

“He had a health reform Town Hall to attend, but ended up spending a lot longer with us than was planned.”

Tips for Hosting an ED Visit

Physicians who would like to become more involved in advocating for their profession and educating policymakers and the public might find hosting their local Congressional representatives the ideal way to meet both objectives. Many physician hosts said the undertaking requires relatively little time – 3-5 hours total, including the visit itself – and offered these tips:

• Be prepared – and prepare the visitor. It’s advisable to bone up on the Congress member’s views on health care and his or her voting record, if feasible, and to prepare to deliver the information and talking points – using available ACEP resources – in a straightforward way that doesn’t presume knowledge of emergency medicine. “You never really learn something quite so much as when you’re going to teach it – and everybody becomes a better advocate when they try to explain, on a sixth-grade level, the complicated things we do in the ED,” Dr. Vasquez said.
• Ask hospital personnel for assistance setting up the visit. The facility’s communications and/or government affairs staff members can assume several of the time-consuming tasks required to ensure the visit receives appropriate administrative approvals and goes smoothly once the legislator arrives. In some cases, such public encounters may require preapproval, so it’s a good idea to check with the powers that be before committing to the visit. “I ran afoul of our hospital marketing people by not involving them, so ensure you have the responsible parties in the loop first,” Dr. Vasquez advised.
• Don’t bypass legislators’ staff members. Those individuals frequently have their boss’ ear to a greater extent than most people realize and often play a major role in information gathering on important health care issues, so including them in the ED visit – or hosting them on their own – can pay dividends, Dr. Kupas said. “I don’t think physicians should overlook their time with the staffers – it’s another opportunity for advocacy. I met for a long period with the staffer before the senator’s visit, and that was valuable,” he said.

Resources: For assistance in organizing legislator emergency department visits, contact Jeanne Slade in ACEP’s Wash­ington, D.C., office, at jslade@acep.org or 202-728-0610, ext. 3013.