Bradley Burmeister, MD FACEP
WACEP President

February is always my favorite month. This February seems extra special: we have vaccines for COVID, COVID numbers are down, and the days are getting longer and longer.

I think, though, we have another glimmer of hope in our ongoing push for fair reimbursement from the Medicaid program. The state is projected to have a more than $600 million Medicaid surplus (partly due to increased federal funding related to COVID). WACEP has been making the case to the Governor and Legislature for increased Medicaid reimbursement rates. Having essentially the lowest reimbursement rates in the country for Emergency services and having not seen an increase in decades, WACEP continues to advocate for fair increase. This is hopefully the prime opportunity for us to move forward. We may need your help, so stay tuned—we’ll let you know if there becomes a time where we need your grassroots help!

In the meantime, save the date for these two important advocacy opportunities:

May 5: Wisconsin Doctor Day (virtual)  Visit https://www.widoctorday.org to sign up. Meet with your state legislator and/or their staff at the state level. Building relationship is incredibly important. Although the exact legislative priorities we will advocate are still to be determined it would be nice to have a good representation of Emergency physicians. 

July 25-27: ACEP Leadership and Advocacy Conference (LAC) Visit https://www.acep.org/lac/ to learn more. Meet with your federal legislators and/or their staff. This might be virtual, it might be in person, it might be a hybrid! For now, save the date!

Also, don’t forget about our own WACEP 2021 Spring Symposium on April 8. It’ll be virtual this year and is always a great opportunity to learn and network with your peers. Register today!

And finally, how can Wisconsin ACEP help you? If you have any questions, concerns or needs, please do not hesitate to reach out! My email is BradleyBurmeister@gmail.com.