WASHINGTON, DC—The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) is deeply concerned that drastic changes to Medicaid under consideration will disproportionately affect emergency departments that are already under significant strain, leaving emergency physicians with fewer resources to respond to patient needs and threatening patient access to lifesaving emergency care.

“Emergency departments are one of the few settings where patients are treated 24/7/365, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay,” said Alison Haddock, MD, FACEP, president of ACEP. “The impact of policies that will leave millions of people without any health coverage falls squarely onto emergency physicians and patients. Patients with unmet health care needs will delay treatment and their conditions will worsen, leaving them with no other option than the emergency department. This creates avoidable health risks and threatens the viability of an already strained health care safety net.”

According to a recent RAND study, access to emergency care is already at risk due to chronic underfunding and the burdens of uncompensated care. In fact, 20% of emergency care goes entirely uncompensated, resulting in a $5.9 billion annual shortfall, RAND found.

Under the provisions passed by the House of Representatives, the Congressional Budget Office projects an additional 7.6 million people will go without any health coverage, resulting in an additional $5.5 billion in losses for emergency physician payments. And these numbers could increase substantially due to changes made just before the bill was passed. As vulnerable and underserved patients face increased barriers to primary care and other necessary services, emergency physicians will see an influx of patients with more severe illnesses and conditions in emergency departments that are already near, or even beyond, their breaking point.

“The very idea of emergency medicine as we now know it—lifesaving care available for anyone at any time—is under direct threat from these proposed policy changes,” said Dr. Haddock.

ACEP recently joined 42 national medical organizations in a letter opposing these proposed Medicaid changes, and looks forward to continuing to work with the Senate to ensure that policy changes do not place undue burdens on already-strained emergency departments or establish barriers to lifesaving emergency care for patients.