Regulatory Affairs

What We Do

As part of our overall federal advocacy strategy, ACEP’s Regulatory Affairs team plays an active role in monitoring and influencing federal regulations and other policies developed by federal agencies. ACEP also advocates on behalf of our members to reduce burdensome requirements that impact their ability to treat patients, ensure fair reimbursement, and eliminate unfair insurer billing practices.

With a new presidential administration, new dynamics in government agencies are emerging. ACEP is cutting through the noise to make sure that your concerns are heard by key decisionmakers at all levels, and that we explore new opportunities related to insurance reform, boarding, workplace protections, and new payment models in Medicare. We will seize every chance to champion your priorities as determined by the ACEP Council, the deliberative body that empowers emergency physicians to vote to determine ACEP policies.

In addition, ACEP works with other influential nongovernmental organizations to advocate for important issues affecting emergency physicians.

Executive Order Tracker

A flurry of executive orders issued in the opening days of this administration are impacting health workers and emergency care. This new ACEP resource helps you keep track of those that are most relevant to emergency medicine.

Medicare Reimbursement

Emergency physicians provide the vast majority of acute care for Medicare and Medicaid patients in the U.S. Medicare rates are often used to set Medicaid and private payor payment rates, yet they do not cover the costs of providing care and have not kept up with the pace of inflation over the last few decades.

Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)

The Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) regulation makes updates to the Quality Payment Program (QPP), the major quality reporting program for physicians under Medicare.

Updates

A new ACEP resource, Navigating Immigration Enforcement in the Emergency Department, explains what to do should ICE officers present themselves in your ED.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the HHS Consolidation in Health Care Markets Request for Information (RFI) Response Report, finding that "health care consolidation can negatively impact patients’ and health workers’ safety, quality, and cost of care." ACEP's response to the RFI was heavily cited and referenced.
In November 2024, HHS and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) issued a third temporary extension allowing for telemedicine prescribing of controlled substances without a prior in-person medical evaluation of the patient through the end of 2025.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) held a summit on ED boarding in October 2024, bringing together patients, emergency physicians, emergency nurses, hospital leaders and others to talk about causes and potential solutions for the boarding crisis. The summit emerged from ACEP's comprehensive, multi-year advocacy campaign sounding the alarm on boarding.
ACEP proposed a modification to a CMS Condition of Participation (CoP) to require hospitals to develop and implement response plans to better address boarding in the emergency department in our response to the 2025 Outpatient Prospective Payment System proposed rule.
CMS adopted the Age Friendly Hospital Measure, developed by ACEP in partnership with the American College of Surgeons and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. This measure clarifies goals for those who work with older patients and incorporates important aspects of the ACEP Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation (GEDA) framework into care delivery.