Health Policy Committee
Health Policy Committee Leaders
Chair
Melanie Yates MD
Chair-Elect
Nicholas Melucci, DO, MPH
Vice Chair
Alberto E. Perez-Sthory, MD
Vice Chair
Katarina Jones, MPH
Vice Chair
Stephanie Berg, MD
Vice Chair
Phillip Groden, MD
Assistant Vice Chair
Nicholas Nasser, MD, MPH
Assistant Vice Chair
Angelica Rego MD
EMRA Health Policy Committee Objectives
The EMRA Health Policy Committee strives to:
- Represent the interests of emergency medicine trainees who are interested in health policy and how it impacts the care of our patients
- Educate EMRA members about the dynamic nature of health policy by coordinating regular programming, journal reviews, and other writing opportunities
- Collaborate with other EMRA committees on programming that features the intersection of health policy with various domains of emergency medicine
- Involve EMRA members in active policy analysis and discussion relevant to the specialty
- Engage with health policy leaders shaping the field of emergency medicine
Committee Videos
"Sausages and the Law": How EMS policies get implemented (or not) in government
Dr. Jon Burstein (Massachusetts State EMS Medical Director) will be talking to us about his journey of being an emergency medicine physician working at the DPH to further EM(S) policies.
Watch NowPatients as Payers: The financial toxicity of aggressive medical debt collection
To help ring in the New Year, the Health Policy Committee welcomed four incredible experts to discuss the financial
toxicity within our emergency departments and medical systems. Learn about the current state of the issue, what research is ongoing or is needed to be done, and what advocacy efforts we can take part in.
Threading the Needle Between Advocacy and Policy: Transforming Advocacy into Action
On July 6th, 2023, the Health Policy Committee welcomed Dr. Brendan Carr the Systems Chair of Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital. Learn about the thin line between advocacy + policy and how to elevate your passions into your career.
Watch NowHealth Policy Leaders in Emergency Medicine Spotlight Series: AZ State Representative - Dr. Amish Shah
On December 20th, 2022, the Health Policy Committee welcomed Dr. Amish Shah - Arizona State Representative of the 24th District - to share more about his path from emergency medicine to state politics as well as his ongoing legislative work related to initiatives that aim to mitigate violence against healthcare workers.
Watch NowHealth Policy Advocacy Series: Post 2022 Midterm Election Debrief with ACEP staff: Jeffrey Davis and Ryan McBride
On November 28th, 2022, the Health Policy Committee welcomed two politics and policy experts from the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) - Ryan McBride and Jeffrey Davis - to share their reflections on the 2022 midterm election and what this means for ongoing legislative priorities for the specialty of emergency medicine. If you are looking for a high yield summary of the 2022 midterm election, this is not one to miss!
Watch NowEMRA at ACEP Programming - Health Policy Committee + Diversity & Inclusion Committee - History of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities in Medicine
On October 3rd, 2022, EMRA's Health Policy Committee and Diversity & Inclusion Committee joined together to discuss racial and ethnic health disparities in medicine. Please review this video for a discussion led by committee leaders on this critical topic.
Watch NowEMRA at ACEP Programming - Health Policy Committee + Social Emergency Medicine Committee - Climate Change: A Hot Topic in Emergency Medicine
On October 2nd, 2022, EMRA's Health Policy Committee and Social Emergency Medicine Committee joined together to host a fascinating panel of emergency medicine physicians who are experts in climate change policy. Please tune into this video to learn more about how emergency medicine physicians should think about climate health policy for their patients.
Watch NowThe Post-Roe Era for EM Trainees - Co-hosted by Social Emergency Medicine
On September 6, 2022, the Health Policy Committee and Social Emergency Medicine Committees joined together to host a panel
discussion designed to help EM trainees understand the post Roe era contex. This session was not recorded but please do not hesitate
to reach out to the EMRA Health Policy Committee if anyone has an interest in connecting with the expert panelists.
The Root of It All - Emergency Care Financing with Dr. Alex Janke, MD, MHS
On August 10th, 2022, the Health Policy Committee welcomed Dr. Alex Janke, MD, MHS - ED physician and current National Clinician Scholar Program fellow at the University of Michigan - to share more about his ongoing health services research in emergency medicine as well as perspectives on emergency care financing.
Watch NowEMRA Health Policy Committee: Advocacy Handbook Series - This is Our Lane: How EM Residents are Crucial Advocates to Prevent Gun Violence with Josh Horwitz, JD and Melanie Yates, MD
On July 21st, 2022, the Health Policy Committee welcomed Josh Horwitz, JD (Co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions) as well as our very own Dr. Melanie Yates (PGY-3 Univ of Cincinnati & Assistant Vice Chair to the Health Policy Committee & Resident Representative on the ACEP Public Health and Injury Prevention Committee) to share more about the state of gun violence prevention and advocacy movements in the US and how EM trainees can get involved with these important efforts. We hope that you will take the time to tune in and learn from this critical policy discussion.
Watch NowEMRA Health Policy Committee: Lessons in Health Policy: How to make policy engagement part of your career with Dr. John R. Corker
On June 30th, 2022, the Health Policy Committee welcomed Dr. John Corker, an award-winning practicing EM physician in Ohio to share his insights on policy engagement and how to get involved with advocacy at each stage in one’s emergency medicine career. Dr. Corker generously invited any EMRA members to reach out to him should they wish to discuss these topics and/or their advocacy interests further. Please contact the EMRA Health Policy Committee if you wish to obtain his contact information. Enjoy!
Watch NowHealth Policy + Admin/Ops Committees | Leaders in EM Health Policy session with Dr. Gabe Kelen
Dr. Gabor Kelen. On January 5th, 2022, the Health Policy Committee and Administration+Operations Committee welcomed Dr. Gabor Kelen, Chair of Emergency Medicine at Johns Hopkins and ACEP board member, to share some of his insight about ongoing policy challenges facing the ED. He provided some background on the motivation behind his recent NEJM Catalyst article on ED crowding (accessible here: https://catalyst.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/CAT.21.0217 ) as well as broader lessons regarding this challenging policy issue in the thick of the ongoing Covid pandemic. If you were not able to join us, we hope that you will take time to listen to what was an inspiring session!
Watch NowHealth Policy Committee Advocacy Update: No Surprises Act - November 18, 2021
During this session, the Health Policy Committee welcomed members to this session focused on ACEP advocacy efforts around the No Surprises Act legislation. Listen here for a real-time update from leading ACEP health policy staff members (including Laura Wooster, MPH (SVP, Advocacy & Practice Affairs) and Jeffrey Davis (Director of Regulatory and External Affairs - and also the author of the informative "Regs and Eggs" blog) regarding ACEP's position on this dynamic issue.
Watch NowHealth Policy Committee Advocacy Handbook Series - Social Determinants of Health with Dr. Hsieh - October 11, 2021
This session co-hosted with the EMRA Social Emergency Medicine committee welcomed Dr. Dennis Hsieh, the CMO of Contra Costa Group and prior Director of Social Medicine and Community Health at Los Angeles County Department of Health Services to share more about his reflections on social determinants of health in emergency medicine. In this session, built upon lessons featured from the Social Determinants of Health Chapter (which Dr. Hsieh authored!) from the Advocacy Handbook. You can access the Advocacy Handbook chapter(s) here, and this one is specifically focused on SDOH: https://www.emra.org/books/advocacy-handbook/social-determinants/
Read MoreHealth Policy Leaders in Emergency Medicine Spotlight Series: Dr. Aisha Terry - October 6, 2021
In this next installment of our Health Policy Leaders in EM Spotlight Series, we were delighted to welcome Dr. Aisha Terry to meet with our Health Policy Committee membership. Dr. Terry holds numerous leadership positions in emergency medicine, including as a member of the ACEP Board of Directors and Secretary-Treasurer of ACEP and a former EMRA President. She also is an associate professor of emergency medicine and health policy at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Milken Institute School of Public Health in Washington, DC. In this session, Dr. Terry shared updates with our committee on the Leadership and Advocacy Conference (LAC21) priorities and updates to these legislative initiatives relevant to EM.
Watch NowHealth Policy Leaders in Emergency Medicine Spotlight Series: Dr. Katrina Gipson - July 15, 2021
Learn more about Dr. Gipson’s journey to health policy leadership, including her role in leading Emory’s Health Policy Fellowship program as well as perspectives on the topic “Health Policy is Social Justice”.
Watch NowHealth Policy Leaders in Emergency Medicine Spotlight Series: Dr. Mahshid Abir - June 2, 2021
Learn more about Dr. Abir’s fascinating journey to Emergency Medicine and her ongoing health policy research through her appointments at the University of Michigan and RAND Corporation.
Watch NowLife After Residency: Contracts, Careers, Pay, and Policy
EMRA's Administration and Operations and Health Policy Committees power a session dedicated to preparing EM residents for their future careers after residency!
Watch NowED of the Future: Is the Traditional Hospital-Based ED Outdated?
A futuristic conversation with Emergency Medicine Thought Leaders
Sponsored By:
EMRA Administration & Operations Committee
EMRA Health Policy Committee
ACEP Young Physicians’ Section
Speakers
Judd Hollander MD
SVP for Healthcare Delivery Innovation
Ricardo Martinez MD
CMO of Adeptus
Jesse Pines MD, MBA, MSCE
National Director for Clinical Innovation at USACS
Cedric Dark, MD, MPH, FACEP
Founder and Executive Editor of Policy Prescriptions®
Gillian Schmitz MD, FACEP
ACEP Vice President
Arjun Venkatesh MD, MBA, MHS
Chief of Administration Section at Yale
Fresh-Baked COVID-19 Updates with EMRA and Brief19
First, Dr. Kimi Chernoby will help us all with some quarantine wellness by walking us through a bread dough prep, and then the Brief-19 team will answer your COVID-19 Health Policy and Research questions (you can submit your questions when you register for the call!)
Kimi Chernoby, MD, JD, MA
Editor, Policy Briefs | Brief19
Chief Resident
Emergency Medicine
Indiana University
Jermey Faust, MD, MS, MA
Editor-In-Chief, Policy Breifs | Brief19
Emergency Physician
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Joshua Niforatos, MD, MTS
Editor, Research Briefs | Brief19
Resident
Emergency Medicine
Johns Hopkins
Joining EMRA Committees is easy and FREE.
Just log into your EMRA account and select which one(s) you wish to join.
Once you join, you will receive an invitation to be part of the EMRA Committee Basecamp, which helps facilitate communication and collaboration.
Intro to Health Policy slides presented at the 2020 ACEP Leadership and Advocacy Conference (LAC)
EMRA and ACEP Young Physicians Section present a health policy primer at the annual ACEP LAC, Emergency Medicine's advocacy conference on the Hill in Washington, DC. This is the annotated slide presentation from the Intro to Health Policy lecture at LAC 2020 presented by EMRA Director of Health Policy, Angela G. Cai.
Annotated Slide Presentationpdf 2.49 MBPlease feel free to learn and share for educational purposes with appropriate credits, for example: Cai, AG. Intro to Health Policy. Slide presentation at: ACEP Leadership and Advocacy Conference; April, 2020; Washington, DC. Retrieved from https://www.emra.org/siteassets/emra/be-involved/be-an-advocate/lac20-intro-policy-handout.pdf
Real Stories on How Health Policy Impacts Our Patients
The future of Emergency Medicine is bright, as our residents engage in making their patients' lives better. Check out their health care advocacy stories below.
As a resident, you get joint memberships in both EMRA and ACEP - so make sure you're aware and informed of what the ACEP Health Policy Section is doing!
When you set up your EMRA/ACEP membership, you get (2) section memberships for free - one to the ACEP Young Physician Section, and one of your choice. Why not make that choice Health Policy?
Additional ACEP section fees are half off - only $20
Learn MoreEMRA's Advocacy Toolkit
EMRA Advocacy Lecture Series
Goto The SeriesHealth Policy Basics
Get the basics
EMRA Fellowship Guide
Chapter 11 Health Policy Fellowship
Healthy policy fellowships strive to educate future physician leaders who will be effective change agents within the health care system and ultimately serve to shape the future health care landscape. This is accomplished through the development of academic, clinical, and professional skillsets. EM providers, with their experience at the gateway to health care and broad clinical training, are uniquely qualified to serve in this capacity.
Go to Chapter 11Emergency Medicine Advocacy Handbook
Published: April, 2023Health policy plays a critical role in the success of every emergency physician. Be an informed, active advocate for yourself and your patients! EMRA’s Emergency Medicine Advocacy Handbook, 6th ed., will give you the knowledge and context you need to discuss the policy issues affecting the way you practice medicine. Produced with the help of an educational grant from US Acute Care Solutions, this book offers a clear path to becoming a savvy advocate.
Download Nowpdf 4.42 MBRelated Content
Jul 14, 2022
Health Policy | This is Our Lane
The EMRA Health Policy Committee invites you to this important discussion that we are moved to hold in light of ongoing national tragedies due to gun violence. We will be learning from Josh Horwitz, J.D. who is the Co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions as well as our very own Dr. Melanie Yates (rising PGY-3 Univ of Cincinnati & Assistant Vice Chair to the Health Policy Committee) who will share more updates related to gun violence prevention and her role as a Resident Representative on the ACEP Public Health and Injury Prevention Committee.
Aug 21, 2023
Health Policy Forecast: Anticipating Healthcare in the 119th Congress
The 119th Congressional Election has posed many questions for current and future health policy that will impact our practice and our patients. Join us for a discussion on the health policy predictions with the inauguration of the incoming POTUS and cabinet with ACEP Chair of the Federal Government Affairs Committee, Dr. Hilary E. Fairbrother, MD, MPH, FACEP and ACEP Congressional Affairs Director, Ryan McBride.