ACEP Takes Aim at Anthem`s New ED Policy

With a lighthearted new video, the American College of Emergency Physicians is striking back at a new Anthem policy on paying for patients' ED visits that ACEP calls unfair and potentially illegal.

Under the Anthem policy, effective in several states, the insurer may not cover ED visits for conditions it decides are nonemergent. It will review clients' diagnoses after their visit to make that determination. 

In ACEP's video, three patients present with stomach aches—which one has simple diarrhea, it asks, and which may have a life-threatening leaking abdominal aortic aneurysm? The point is, a prudent layperson can't tell. 

Exceptions to Anthem's new policy include ED visits for policyholders under age 14, patients referred by physicians to the ED, those without access to urgent care, and those on Sundays and holidays when alternative facilities may be closed.

Read more on the issue from ACEP here.