Jasmeet Dhaliwal, MD, MPH, MBA
President, CO ACEP
Now More Than Ever: Why Colorado ACEP Matters for Emergency Medicine
The passage of the 2025 federal budget reconciliation bill has set in motion sweeping changes to our health care system—particularly for Medicaid beneficiaries—many of whom rely on emergency departments as their safety net. In Colorado, the downstream effects will be profound: rising uninsured rates, increased patient cost-sharing, and declining federal reimbursements threaten both access to care and the financial viability of emergency medicine practices statewide.
While these federal shifts are significant, it is the state-level legislative and regulatory responses that will determine whether Colorado’s emergency physicians can continue to provide timely, high-quality care. Decisions about Medicaid eligibility and reimbursement rates, enforcement of cost-sharing policies and the administration of federal work requirements, and the regulatory environment that governs exchange-based plans will be made by Colorado’s lawmakers and regulators. These state-level decisions will shape the real-world impact on our patients and our profession.
That’s where Colorado ACEP plays a vital role. As the only organization dedicated solely to representing emergency physicians at the state level, Colorado ACEP ensures that our voices are heard in the Capitol, in regulatory workgroups, and in coalition spaces where critical health policy decisions are made. We’ve seen firsthand how physician engagement has influenced scope-of-practice debates, behavioral health reform, and the tort environment. In the coming years, this advocacy will only become more important.
Whether you practice in a rural critical access hospital, a high-volume urban trauma center, or an academic institution, these changes will touch your patients and your practice. And regardless of your political beliefs or employment model, we all share a mission: promoting the interests and values of emergency physicians and patients by giving physicians the tools to support the highest quality of emergency medical care.
Now more than ever, we need a unified voice. We invite you to continue to support Colorado ACEP, get involved, and help shape the future of emergency medicine in our state.
Warm regards,
Jasmeet Dhaliwal, MD, MPH, MBA