Health Policy

Abstract

Emergency medicine serves as the social and medical safety net and is unique as a specialty that provides health care access to all individuals regardless of ability to pay or condition. Understanding the policies that influence the practice of medicine and patient care and physician involvement in local, state, and federal legislation is essential in advocating for our profession and the patients we serve. The emergency medicine health policy fellowship was designed to train emergency physicians with a desire to affect positive change, innovate, and seek solutions to problems within the health care system to become advocates and leaders in health policy. The authors discuss the history of health policy in medicine, the advantages of fellowship training, career paths in health policy for emergency physicians, and key considerations in selecting a health policy fellowship program.