The Society of Emergency Medicine Physician Assistants (SEMPA) is committed to speaking out on the issues that affect its members, their patients and the practice of emergency medicine.

That's why the presidents of SEMPA, the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), and Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) joined forces on Capitol Hill to meet with key lawmakers about the mental health crisis in U.S. emergency departments and help figure out what to do in order to help fix the problem. Watch video

SEMPA commitment to advocacy on behalf of its members and the EMPA profession also led SEMPA to make a contribution to the Emergency Medicine Action Fund (EMAF), joining medical groups, coalitions, affiliate businesses and individual emergency medicine providers from across the country that have banded together to preserve and promote emergency medicine’s voice in the future of health care.
 
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is widely viewed in emergency medicine as the biggest potential game-changer since the enactment of EMTALA in 1986. And because this major healthcare law will be finalized through the complex federal regulatory process, the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Board of Directors created the Emergency Medicine Action Fund to give all emergency medicine stakeholders the opportunity to get involved in this process with a clear and influential voice to define how emergency medicine providers practice in the future. To date, more than $1.1 million has been raised.

Overseeing the Action Fund’s commitment to advancing the needs of emergency medicine is the Emergency Medicine Action Fund Board of Governors, who at EMAF’s inaugural meeting developed the following six area of focus for the projects the Fund will seek to impact this year.

• Workforce, residency training, and funding graduate medical education
• Reimbursement, risk and gain sharing, and valuation of professional services
• Relationships with hospitals and other major elements of the health care system
• Information technology, health care data, and quality measurements
• Adaptation to reforms in the health care environment
• Community access and public health issues

To address these areas of focus, the majority of the spending will concentrate on initiatives, such as:

• Retaining renowned consulting and law firms Alston & Bird LLP, Hart Health Strategies, and Health Policy Alternatives 
• Hiring additional staff to focus on regulatory issues 
• Commissioning studies, like quantifying the value of emergency medicine, to support our position with regulators 
• Coordinating high-level meetings with regulatory agencies 
• Developing additional public relations campaigns

As mentioned above, EMAF will be working with regulatory agencies and emergency medicine organizations, which include, but are certainly not limited to:

• Department of Health and Human Services 
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) 
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 
• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) 
• Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 
• National Quality Forum 
• Department of Justice 
• American Hospital Association 
• Federation of American Hospitals 
• American Public Health Association

In today’s health care environment, it’s more critical than ever to have a clear and strong voice speaking on behalf of emergency medicine, which is why SEMPA joined the Action Fund. The EM Action Fund plays a vital role in allowing SEMPA to unify and strengthen its influence with federal agencies in a way that is more effective than what SEMPA as an individual organization could achieve on its own.

Personal Contributions

If you would like to make a personal contribution to the Emergency Medicine Action Fund, visit the EMAF Website where you can learn more, or complete and send in the EMAF Contribution Form to the address listed on the form.