Help ACEP Hold Insurers Accountable
ICYMI– We’ve all seen firsthand how insurers do all they can to delay, reduce or even outright deny payments to you. Enough is enough–ACEP is calling out their bad behavior and you can help by sharing your own story of bad insurance company behavior that put you, your group, or your patients at risk.
ACEP’s advocacy relies on being able to effectively convey to policymakers, the media, and the public how the many bad actors in the insurance industry are impacting emergency medicine. We are now building a bank of stories around bad insurance behavior to help us paint a picture in our advocacy, and we need your help. Sharing your firsthand experience through this short, anonymous, online poll will help fuel state and federal efforts to push insurers toward transparency and better business practices.
Some past examples of successful ACEP advocacy to hold insurers accountable include:
- Earlier this month, ACEP led a joint letter with CalACEP and the California Medical Association to the full California delegation in Congress to expose Aetna’s latest strategy to downcode physician and facility claims for emergency services. Aetna has since already started to walk back its policy update announcement and stated that California is excluded from the new policy at this time.
- ACEP and CalACEP sent a similar letter to California legislators in 2022 about Anthem’s nonpayment policy. Once policymakers, media, and even social media’s Dr. Glaucomflecken joined the chorus of concern, the pressure became impossible to ignore and the insurer dialed back its policy.
- Last year, ACEP called out insurer abuses during a major Congressional hearing on CMS’ flawed implementation of the No Surprises Act law on surprise billing. ACEP’s effective Congressional advocacy secured us the opportunity to have an emergency physician testify in front of the influential House Ways and Means Committee. In his testimony, Dr. Seth Bleier, ACEP member and vice president of finance, Wake Emergency Physicians, PA (WEPPA) in North Carolina, highlighted issues facing emergency physicians and patients, called out insurer bad practices, and advocated for fixes to ensure the law is carried out fairly.
- When UnitedHealthcare announced its new emergency department coverage policy that would allow the insurer to retroactively deny ED claims it determines are nonemergent, ACEP immediately responded with a strong public rebuke of this dangerous policy. Aggressive advocacy and media engagement by ACEP quickly followed, and in only six days UnitedHealthcare announced it would delay (and then ultimately rescinded) the damaging policy.