In the near future, House Insurance Committee Republican Chair Tina Pickett and I intend to introduce legislation amending the Health Care Facilities Act to require that every hospital emergency department in Pennsylvania be staffed at all times by an on-site, board-certified or board-eligible emergency physician.
Emergency medicine requires rapid, high-stakes decision-making—often without any prior knowledge of a patient’s medical history. Board-certified and board-eligible emergency physicians have specialized training to manage undifferentiated and high-acuity conditions. While the most common practice in Pennsylvania is to have a physician on-site, state statute does not currently require a physician to be physically present in the emergency department at all times, meaning some hospitals rely on tele-emergency departments staffed by non-physician practitioners with physicians only available electronically.
This legislation would ensure that whenever a Pennsylvanian enters through the doors of an emergency department, a highly trained emergency physician is immediately available. Recognizing the staffing realities of small rural hospitals, the bill includes a narrow exception allowing the Department of Health to permit alternative physician staffing if a facility demonstrates low patient volume and documented recruitment challenges.
Several states—including Indiana, South Carolina, and Virginia—have already enacted similar requirements. It is time for Pennsylvania to establish this same standard of care to improve patient safety and strengthen the quality of emergency services across the Commonwealth.
We invite you to join us in co-sponsoring this important legislation.