ACEP needs to be dismantled

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EctopicFetus

EctopicFetus

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With the current ACEP 21 meeting going on I am unsure how many of you have been following the elections and what is going on. I am confident the attendings on here are not ACEP members, those who are it is time to drop your membership. Students open your eyes and understand that this organization while it has a lot of potential doesnt represent the bedside docs. It is first and foremost beholden to its corporate partners namely the CMGs. Do not renew your membership if you are a member and if you are a student do not join them. Allowing them to persist is digging our own graves. They have shown they have little to add and most of their work is in advancing. Corporate interests at the expense of the bedside doc. #rantover
 
I’m not a member, and don’t like ACEP all too much either. That said, the VP of ACEP told me only about 5% of their funding comes from CMGs. If true, that’s not much money.
 
I think one of the biggest blows is they didn't vote in some members for the board of directors that were fighting for due process, increased billing transparency, and pushing back against the corporate takeover of our specialty. Instead people who were voted in were USACS executives and people with conflict of interest.

People get caught up in the physical money. How much of it comes from CMGs etc. What's more scary is putting people in power who have the ability to vote for policies not in the best interest of the pit doc or the patient, but the actual corporate executives and shareholders themselves. That to me is truly what makes ACEP a scumbag organization.
 
Was a member in residency (due to the residency *making* me a member) haven't been a member since. They're pretty much useless. No real advocacy for things that matter to me.
 
EctopicFetus said:
With the current ACEP 21 meeting going on I am unsure how many of you have been following the elections and what is going on. I am confident the attendings on here are not ACEP members, those who are it is time to drop your membership. Students open your eyes and understand that this organization while it has a lot of potential doesnt represent the bedside docs. It is first and foremost beholden to its corporate partners namely the CMGs. Do not renew your membership if you are a member and if you are a student do not join them. Allowing them to persist is digging our own graves. They have shown they have little to add and most of their work is in advancing. Corporate interests at the expense of the bedside doc. #rantover
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I never renewed after finishing residency. They sent me letters for a couple of years trying to get me to join. I guess they gave up.
 
bravotwozero said:
I’m not a member, and don’t like ACEP all too much either. That said, the VP of ACEP told me only about 5% of their funding comes from CMGs. If true, that’s not much money.
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Non sense. There is mandatory participation from CMG docs, there is a ton of indirect money as well. The SA is big for them, same for acep news, same for booths. It’s pure bs.
 
I always felt like ACEP was not a group of doctors like me, but a group who knew the house was burning down first, found their way out, and were keeping that information to themselves, as if there was a limited amount of room on the outside. It's kind of like Red Light, Green Light, in the first episode of Squid Game. They got across the line first. They're relieved and in shock. Did you think they were going to anger their controllers and risk it all, by trying to help me and you get there, too? They're just happy they got out of the game alive.
 
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ACEP needs to undergo a hostile take over by the outsiders, the pit docs. Emergency Medicine needs to be run by a leader who is a revolutionary firebrand, who owes nothing to anyone. This needs to be someone who's willing to risk it all to either win the specialty of EM back for the pit docs, or burn the status quo down to the ground, so it can be rebuilt from the ground up.
 
Tenk said:
As a pgy-2 when I went to the acep national convention for the first time and saw all the money thrown around I knew they were full of ****. Where do you think all that money comes from?

You.
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I went this year as a senior resident. They stopped doing the big lavish stuff from previous years because they were criticized over exactly this. So now they just keep the money and you get one (1) drink ticket at the bar.
 
I should quit my membership but don't want to lose the FACEP. Why? I have no idea, it was just kind of a pain to submit the application and get the references, etc.. I do read Annals occasionally. Philosophically, I don't feel very aligned with ACEP and most of us consider them to be bought out in terms of furthering the corporate private equity agenda. I do feel aligned with AAEM but feel that they have a much smaller voice and lack any real power to influence legislation or effectively lobby. That being said, I'm a member of both. I'd rather have these two groups lobby on our behalf to improve EM versus the CMGs though in the past few years I've began to have increasing doubts in regards to their abilities and inside interests.

If you think about it...most of us pay a huge "membership" fee to the CMGs out of our paycheck and the last thing I want is for all of them to be collectively "lobbying" on our behalf. That being said...that may ultimately be what improves our bottom line. The TH lawsuit against United Healthcare might actually be a really good thing for shedding light on the balanced billing issue and the influence UH had over the Cooper Yale study that seemed to influence congressional oversight. I don't know if anyone read the article by the CEO of TH on their portal but it's worth a read. If true, that's dirtball tactics UH employed to terminate contracts in order to obtain the 50% administrative fee and using the Cooper study to justify their actions.

How sad would it be for CMGs legal efforts to ultimately be what benefits us in the end compared to our formal professional organizations such as AAEM and ACEP who we pay to represent our best interests? Somehow, I wonder if any of us could have brought a collective SDG lawsuit to bear against any of the major insurance companies? Things that make you go..hmmm.
 
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FYI on a semi related note, the Texas medical Association is suing the government over the balance billing legislation…
 
Groove said:
I should quit my membership but don't want to lose the FACEP. Why? I have no idea, it was just kind of a pain to submit the application and get the references, etc.. I do read Annals occasionally. Philosophically, I don't feel very aligned with ACEP and most of us consider them to be bought out in terms of furthering the corporate private equity agenda. I do feel aligned with AAEM but feel that they have a much smaller voice and lack any real power to influence legislation or effectively lobby. That being said, I'm a member of both. I'd rather have these two groups lobby on our behalf to improve EM versus the CMGs though in the past few years I've began to have increasing doubts in regards to their abilities and inside interests.

If you think about it...most of us pay a huge "membership" fee to the CMGs out of our paycheck and the last thing I want is for all of them to be collectively "legislating" on our behalf. That being said...that may ultimately be what improves our bottom line. The TH lawsuit against United Healthcare might actually be a really good thing for shedding light on the balanced billing issue and the influence UH had over the Cooper Yale study that seemed to influence congressional oversight. I don't know if anyone read the article by the CEO of TH on their portal but it's worth a read. If true, that's dirtball tactics UH employed to terminate contracts in order to obtain the 50% administrative fee and using the Cooper study to justify their actions.

How sad would it be for CMGs legal efforts to ultimately be what benefits us in the end compared to our formal professional organizations such as AAEM and ACEP who we pay to represent our best interests? Somehow, I wonder if any of us could have brought a collective SDG lawsuit to bear against any of the major insurance companies? Things that make you go..hmmm.
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United is the worst insurer in terms of contracts. My very large health system refused to budge when they were wanting cuts. United argued that we're the highest cost healthcare provider in the Southeast, but ironically they said the same thing last year for another healthcare system in my market. They are already paying way less than other insurers, and they were wanting further cuts. I hate it that patients are in the middle, but I'm glad my healthcare system just said no and went out of network instead of surrendering to their aggressive contract tactics. Personally, I would love to see United go bankrupt. I know of several large corporations in my market that are self-insured and will be ditching United as their benefits manager because of the debacle with my healthcare system.

There's a reason United had record-breaking profits in the middle of a pandemic. They made $22 billion last year from their hardball negotiation tactics.
 
For anyone who didn't read the filing in the UHC vs TeamHealth upcharging lawsuit, they actually include the average paid rates per code:

UHC pay rates.png


*Note, this is the amount paid out. Not charged.
 
turkeyjerky said:
For anyone who didn't read the filing in the UHC vs TeamHealth upcharging lawsuit, they actually include the average paid rates per code:

View attachment 345250

*Note, this is the amount paid out. Not charged.
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Honestly those seem low. 99285 is about $170 for medicare this would be 262% of medicare. I doubt its that low. Ill have to read the actual filing. Do you happen to have it? BCBS pays envision upwards of 400% and frankly I know UHC paid envision 400+% of medicare until they went OON.
 
EctopicFetus said:
Honestly those seem low. 99285 is about $170 for medicare this would be 262% of medicare. I doubt its that low. Ill have to read the actual filing. Do you happen to have it? BCBS pays envision upwards of 400% and frankly I know UHC paid envision 400+% of medicare until they went OON.
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I just took it from the document Mcnamera posted on facebook the other day.

DocumentCloud
 
turkeyjerky said:
I just took it from the document Mcnamera posted on facebook the other day.

DocumentCloud
Click to expand...
Texas had this weird thing were both Medicare and private insurance rates were elevated. Typically they're going to be inversely proportional (low Medicare payments/ higher private multiplier, high Medicare payments/lower private multiplier). Starting around 2019, UHC in particular started dropping their multiplier substantially in Texas.
 
I assume this is a blended rate with Medicaid and their commercial rates.
 
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