August is one of the most strategic times for emergency physicians to connect with lawmakers. ACEP’s Capitol Rounds webinar highlights policy developments, ACEP wins and the 2026 August Recess Toolkit, a members-only guide to meeting lawmakers while they are at home in their districts.
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Act Now Use the August Recess Advocacy Toolkit to speak out for your practice and patients. |
Advancing Payment Reform
ACEP helped shape the bipartisan Patients First Act of 2026, which would modernize Medicare physician payment through inflationary updates, improved geographic adjustments, and updated budget neutrality rules. This comes as CMS’ 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule includes a 1.68% reduction to the conversion factor.
What’s next? ACEP is preparing formal comments. There will be opportunities to advocate for limiting these harmful cuts.
Winning in the States
In Illinois, emergency physicians strengthened workplace violence protections and restricted insurer downcoding. Stay current on state policies with ACEP’s members-only state legislative dashboard.
Increasing Insurer Accountability
- Reducing regulatory barriers. ACEP advocacy secured improvements to the No Surprises Act’s independent dispute resolution process, including lower administrative costs.
- Winning court battles. Siding with ACEP advocacy, a 5th Circuit Court ruled in favorof the Texas Medical Association (TMA), affirming that “ghost rates,” contracted rates for services that a physician never actually performs, are unlawful and cannot be folded into Qualified Payment Amount (QPA) calculations.
The court decision largely aligns with an ACEP amicus brief filed with the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) and American College of Radiologists (ACR).
Why it matters: The court ruling affirms what ACEP has been telling Congress and regulators for years—the QPA is unreliable, fundamentally flawed, and used by insurers to game the system, drive down payments and narrow physician networks.
Speak out!
ACEP members can use the August Recess Advocacy Toolkit to tell Congress how the bipartisan No Surprises Act Enforcement Act would increase insurer accountability for delaying or withholding payments.
The toolkit includes sample meeting requests, members-only talking points, issue briefs, and tips to help you prepare and follow up.
The toolkit also explains how you can support the bipartisan Addressing Boarding and Crowding in the ED (ABC-ED) Act, legislation ACEP helped create to reduce boarding and improve outcomes through better data, coordination, and accountability.
