eNews 164: A Winning Week

VACEP secures state and federal protections for EM and patient care

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In Virginia, progress on scope of practice: A team effort successfully amended a bill that Nurse Practitioners are backing to decrease the number of years of clinical experience required, from five years to two, for their independent practice. VACEP and our allies have advocated to keep NP training to five years. Yesterday morning (Friday), a Senate subcommittee agreed and passed a strong 7-1 vote in favor of keeping training to five years. Those NPs who received a license during the pandemic (when the requirement was lowered to two years to address emergency needs) are allowed to keep their status under this new substitute bill. Still a few more miles to the finish line, but for now, you can thank the strong work of our lobbyist Aimee Perron Seibert, testimony and lobbying from several members, and emergency physicians statewide who sent more than 170 letters to legislators asking to keep the more stringent training requirements.

Nationwide, reimbursement relief: This week, a federal judge in Texas ruled in our favor as part of our argument that the process for resolving reimbursement disputes between insurers and physicians is unfair. The decision puts emergency medicine one step closer to ensuring a transparent and equal arbitration process as part of the federal No Surprises Act. Even if you're just getting caught up, we've broken down the complex legal maneuverings in this article.