Relentless advocacy for Emergency Medicine

VACEP is an active voice year-round in Virginia politics. The Emergency Medicine Political Action Committee in Virginia (EMPAC-VA) supports VACEP advocacy with Virginia’s General Assembly. The PAC’s mission ensures our members gain one-on-one opportunities to share emergency medicine’s story, which is invaluable in our efforts to explain complex issues from an emergency physician’s perspective. 

Money doesn’t buy votes, but it does help us build relationships and open doors with lawmakers.

With your funds, we contribute to candidate campaigns and put leaders — regardless of political affiliation — in seats who have our interests, and those of our patients, in mind. Your contributions help us create conversations with lawmakers willing to listen. Sharing our story results in pro-EM advocacy and votes on legislation that impacts our specialty.

how can you give? you can:

1. Encourage your entire practice to give. That could be a donation ranging from $2,500 to $10,000 on behalf of all the emergency physicians in your group.

2. Make a one-time donation! The lowest giving level to attend a candidate fundraiser is $250. A donation of $250, $500, $750 or $1,000 will help immensely. 

3. Give monthly! Give $20 or $50 a month.

VACEP has secured significant wins in recent years:

• Off-duty police or security officers trained in de-escalation and restraint are now required in every ED 24/7, thanks to a VACEP bill that passed with bipartisan support (the first of its kind in the U.S.!)

• Passed a bill requiring a physician (not necessarily an emergency physician) be physically present at all times in the ER (current law requires a physician be on call, not always physically present).

• We passed a bill allowing paramedics to administer medications in an ED within their scope of training.

• We have made significant headway improving processes around mental and behavioral health, including streamlining how emergency physicians gain temporary medical detention orders, streamlining a bureaucratic process.

Help us continue to achieve our goals. Give to the Emergency Medicine Political Action Committee in Virginia (EMPAC-VA) right now.

2024 EMPAC-VA Contributors

Find your legislator

• If you do not know who your legislators are, find out now! Don’t know your representatives? Find your legislator.

• Look and see which committees your legislators are assigned. VACEP will send alerts to emergency physicians for whom we have an email address, when your legislator is voting in committee on bills we are actively pursuing. Contact information for all House and Senate members is also found on the Virginia General Assembly website.