18 Feb New York ACEP 2025 Advocacy Efforts

New York ACEP testifies for the Joint Legislative Budget Health/Medicaid Hearing

New York ACEP was selected to testify before the Joint Legislative Budget Health/Medicaid Hearing on Tuesday, February 11, 2025. Katelynn Ethier, Executive Director, spoke on behalf of the organization highlighting key items of interest for New York ACEP in the FY26 Executive Budget.

Katelynn spoke to the opportunity for New York State to utilize the $50 million allocation of the Managed Care Organization (MCO) Tax to address the ongoing underfunding of Medicaid reimbursement, where New York currently ranks 49/50 on reimbursement. Highlighting the safety net care provided by emergency departments across the state, and the commitment to meeting the goals of EMTALA as key indicators for the essential need of this increase. Doing this would follow the lead of California, whom utilized $100 million of their MCO tax to increase rates for Emergency Physician rates for fee for service and Medi-Cal managed care plans.

Additionally, Katelynn continued on to addressed the issue of expanding Physician Assistant Scope of Practice and the issues that arise within the care team if this were to pass. Katelynn spoke to the essential nature of the PA’s within the physician led team, but noted that the training of a PA does not prepare them for leading a team, and while 8,000 hours of training is excellent, it is not equivalent to the 11,000-15,000 hours of training a board certified emergency physician must complete to become certified.

Please see the link below to access the full 3 minute testimony.

Link to full testimony

How Can You Make Your Voice Heard This Legislative Season? 

1. Ensure you are signed up to receive emails from New York ACEP so you never miss an Action Alert, an opportunity for you to virtually contact your representatives on key issues as the arise.
2. Join New York ACEP on March 11th in Albany for our annual Advocacy Day. You will meet with representatives from your area to discuss key issues facing Emergency Medicine and your patients. Register now to join this important event.
3. Consider making a contribution to . These funds are utilized to help support the elected officials from across the state that are advocating for the key issues that are of concern to Emergency Medicine. Any amount makes a difference, thank you for your support.