Gillian Schmitz, MD, FACEP is an Associate Professor at the Uniformed Services University and an emergency physician at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX. She currently serves as the Immediate Past President and a member of the Board of Directors of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP).
We discuss surprise billing and what the No Surprises Act was designed to do. Dr. Schmitz highlights the implementation challenges, including that many insurance companies are not reimbursing physicians fairly or even showing up to arbitration, as the law requires.
We discuss how organized medicine amplifies the voice of individual physicians. We discuss that a powerful antidote to burnout is to get involved and make changes. Dr. Schmitz debunks some of the myths around ACEP, specifically that it kowtows to private equity. We'd encourage listeners to check out ACEP's policy statement on private equity and corporate investment in emergency medicine. To learn more about the benefits of ACEP, check this link.
We discuss the potential for ACEP to implement an emergency department accreditation system. The aims of this system would include raising the bar on quality and ensuring that the working conditions are sustainable and just for emergency physicians.
We end our discussion on the importance of physician involvement and engagement in policy and advocacy. We discuss the importance of civility and encourage listeners to reach out to ACEP leadership when they have a question or concern. ACEP's membership page is a great place to start.
MicroSkills is built on one core, easy-to-learn principle: every big goal, complicated task, healthy habit, and, yes, even what we think of as character traits, can be broken down into small, learnable, skills that can be practiced, and incorporated real-time. Pre-order wherever you buy your books or on Amazon; launches Apr 16.