American College of Emergency PhysiciansCongress Can Help Protect Emergency Physicians and Patients
Key Issues We're Addressing at LAC26
Demand for emergency care is soaring, but emergency physicians are near their breaking point. Patients face avoidable and potentially deadly systemic delays. The physician workforce is under incredible strain. Persistent reimbursement cuts shrink capacity and threaten access to care for vulnerable patients. Fortunately, there are legislative and policy solutions immediately available.
Emergency physicians are in DC for ACEP’s 2026 Leadership and Advocacy Conference to meet with bipartisan lawmakers and call for changes that:
Address the Emergency Department Boarding Crisis
Emergency patients can face dangerous delays, waiting hours or days for care after being admitted for inpatient care because hospitals lack inpatient beds or transfer options. This dangerous bottleneck, known as boarding, overwhelms emergency departments and puts lives at risk.
How Can Congress Help?
Support the Addressing Boarding and Crowding in the Emergency Department (ABC-ED) Act (H.R. 2936 / S. 1974), a bipartisan bill to reduce boarding and improve outcomes by strengthening data sharing, coordination, and accountability.
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Protect the Emergency Medicine Workforce
Corporate overreach, a lack of basic employment protections, and violence in emergency departments are driving emergency physicians out of the workforce, putting patient lives and physician careers at risk.
How Can Congress Help?
- Cosponsor the Bipartisan Workforce Mobility Act (S. 2031) to ban non-compete clauses in employment contracts and ensure emergency physicians can practice where they are needed most.
- Cosponsor The Save Healthcare Workers Act (H.R. 3178/S. 1600) to establish federal criminal penalties for violence against health care workers.
- Cosponsor The Physician and Patient Safety Act (H.R. 3413/S. 1767) to ensure emergency physicians have the same due process rights as other specialists.
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Preserve Medicare’s Promise
Years of Medicare payment cuts are shrinking emergency department capacity and threatening patient access to care throughout the health care system. Congress can provide short-term relief and long-term stability for the Medicare physician payment system to ensure Medicare can fulfill its promise to seniors.
How Can Congress Help?
- Stop the impending Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) conversion factor cut for 2027.
- Establish a permanent inflationary update to Medicare physician payments.
- Modernize and update PFS “budget neutrality” requirements.
- Update the MACRA framework to reduce physician burdens and facilitate the transition to value-based care.
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