Relentless advocacy for Emergency Medicine

The emergency department doesn’t have to feel like a medical drama. Turn to our PAC.
VACEP’s Emergency Medicine Political Action Committee (EMPAC-VA) helps elect candidates who listen, learn, and vote to protect our profession, our patients, and Virginia's healthcare safety net.

Money doesn’t buy votes, but it does help us build relationships and open doors with lawmakers.

EMPAC-VA contributions help elect candidates — from both sides of the aisle — who listen, learn, and vote to protect our profession, our patients, and Virginia's safety net. In recent years, these relationships have led to new Virginia laws, including:

how can you give? you can:

1. Encourage your entire practice to give. That could be a donation ranging from $2,500 to $10,000 on behalf of all the emergency physicians in your group.

2. Make a one-time donation. The lowest giving level to attend a candidate fundraiser is $250. A donation of $250, $500, $750 or $1,000 will help immensely. 

VACEP has secured significant wins in recent years:

• A ban on restrictive physician non-compete agreements.

• Delaying release of certain sensitive test results for up to 72 hours in patient portals.

• Limiting legislation to expand unsupervised practice that weakened physician-led care models.

• Modernizing Virginia’s Board of Medicine structure to improve specialty representation and create a more balanced review process for physician complaints and standard-of-care cases.

• Preventing immediate increases to Virginia’s medical malpractice cap structure that could have further strained emergency care access and healthcare costs statewide.

• Continued leadership on reforms involving emergency custody orders, temporary detention orders, and patient handoff responsibilities between hospitals and law enforcement.

• Hospital reporting requirements for workplace violence against healthcare providers.

• Introduced and passed a first-of-its-kind law requiring off-duty police or security officers trained in de-escalation and restraint in every ED 24/7.

• Stood as the ONLY specialty group to oppose less-stringent NP independent practice reqs.

• Led creation of state law to protect patients and families by prohibiting balance billing for out-of-network emergency services.Internal hospital reporting requirements for workplace violence against healthcare providers.

• Supported and passed a bill that gives more flexibility to psychiatric EDs.

• Supported physician mental health (federal Lorna Breen Act), tackling boarding, combating workplace violence, and much more.

• Supported legislation allowing paramedics to administer medications in an ED within their scope of training.

This is only a handful of wins. But they didn’t happen by chance — they happened because VACEP showed up, told our story, and backed lawmakers who had ours. EMPAC-VA opens those doors.

Find your legislator

• If you do not know who your legislators are, find out now! Don’t know your representatives? Find your legislator.

• Look and see which committees your legislators are assigned. VACEP will send alerts to emergency physicians for whom we have an email address, when your legislator is voting in committee on bills we are actively pursuing. Contact information for all House and Senate members is also found on the Virginia General Assembly website.

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