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Encouraged by Efforts...
ACEP Encouraged by Efforts to Protect Patients'
Rights to Emergency Care
The American College of Emergency Physicians
(ACEP) today is encouraged by the efforts of members of
the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Committee to ensure that the prudent layperson standard
for coverage of emergency services is included in the
Patients' Bill of Rights Act (S. 326). ACEP further
applauds passage of the Hutchinson-Enzi Amendment to the
bill, which will protect people in emergency situations
by allowing them to go to the nearest emergency
department without incurring additional costs or
co-payment charges. The amendment was sponsored by
Senators Tim Hutchinson (R-AR) and Michael B. Enzi
(R-WY).
"The amendment removes a significant
barrier to emergency care, stating that under the
prudent layperson standard, a patient will not incur any
higher co-payment or liability for seeking emergency
services outside their network," said Dr. John Moorhead,
president of ACEP. "Patients should be able to access
emergency care whenever and wherever they need it. We
urge Congress to pass meaningful patient protection
legislation this year."
ACEP continues to
advocate passage of patient protection legislation that
provides all Americans with coverage for emergency
services consistent with the prudent layperson standard.
This standard, which is now law in 26 states, requires
managed care plans to cover emergency services without
prior authorization and based on a patient's symptoms,
not his or her final diagnosis. It also was enacted by
Congress in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 as the
standard for Medicare and Medicaid patients and is
included in S.326.
Dr. Moorhead said that ACEP
has consistently advocated for uniform ground rules for
coordinating "post-stabilization" services between
emergency physicians and managed care plans and was
disappointed that Senator Patty Murray's (D-WA)
amendment on post-stabilization was defeated. Her
amendment would have ensured appropriate consultation
and timely care between attending emergency physicians
and health plans - guaranteeing better coordination of
patient care.
In addition, the Republican
Patients' Bill of Rights currently only covers 48
million people in self-insured health plans; ACEP
supports efforts to extend this protection to all 161
million Americans in private health insurance.
# # #
The American
College of Emergency Physicians is a medical specialty
society representing nearly 20,000 physicians who
specialize in emergency medicine. ACEP is dedicated to
improving emergency care through continuing education,
research, and public education. Headquartered in Dallas,
Texas, ACEP has 53 chapters representing each state as
well as Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and
Government Services.
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