White Coats Recap and Photos
Plus: Key Legislation Updates
Emergency Physicians from across Virginia came to Richmond on Wednesday, January 26 to advocate for emergency medicine. After a briefing on issues from VACEP lobbyist Aimee Perron Seibert, a team of more than a dozen emergency physicians went to the Pocahontas Building, where members have their offices as the new General Assembly building is constructed. They met with legislators and aides, usually for about 5 or 10 minutes, and discussed key issues that impact EM.
Members focused on two primary issues.
The ER Penalty/Downcoding: We’re working on getting the downcoding provision removed from the Virginia budget. You can view the one pager we provided legislators here. This issue won’t see action until after February 20, when lawmakers begin budget discussions.
NP Scope of Practice: Advocating against a series of bills that promote more autonomous practice for Nurse Practitioners, in particular House Bill 1245, which would reduce the number of years of training before independent practice from five to two. See our one pager on the various bills. Unfortunately, that bill was reported 15-7. We did succeed in an amendment on Senate Bill 414 that exempts emergency departments from allowing patient care-team physicians to supervise 10 NPs, up from six. In ERs, the level must remain at six NPs.
There are many other issues, which you can browse in our Advocacy Center. Two that have our attention:
Med Mal cap: Senate Bill 599 will be heard next week. It would remove medical malpractice limits for certain, catastrophic injuries. VACEP is opposed.
Disclosure of medical records for potential TDOs: Senate Bill 119 requires Community Service Boards to disclose medical records gathered during an evaluation to determine whether a person meets the criteria for involuntary temporary detention to a health care provider in a hospital emergency department.
Read about all the issues and send a message to your legislator on HB1245 in our Advocacy Center. Thank you to all the emergency physicians below who made time to come to Richmond and advocate.
VACEP White Coats 2022 team
Bruce Lo, MD, FACEP | Sentara/Emergency Physicians of Tidewater
Cameron Olderog, MD, FACEP | Inova Health System
Christina Gates, DO, MBA, PMP | EVMS
Darwin Castillo, MD | Nova Health System
Doug Bernstein, MD | Bon Secours
Joran Sequeira, MD, FACEP | Bon Secours
Joseph Lang, MD | Emergency Physicians of Tidewater
Theodore Tzavaras, MD | Emergency Physicians of Tidewater
Timothy Titchner, MD | Bon Secours (who, by the way, came directly after pulling a night shift)
Todd Parker, MD, FACEP | Riverside Health System
Trisha Anest, MD, MPH, FACEP | Bon Secours
Randall Myers, MD | Inova Health System
Randy Geldreich, MD, FACEP | Bon Secours
