About this newsletter
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The ACP Advocate is an e-newsletter, edited by the College's Washington, DC governmental affairs division, created to provide you, our members, with succinct news about public policy issues affecting internal medicine and patient care. To learn more about ACP's Advocacy and to access the ACP Advocate archives, go to www.acponline.org/advocacy.
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Welcome to The ACP Advocate.
In this week’s issue you’ll find coverage of what Congress was able to accomplish over the last few weeks in drafting health care reform legislation. The House adjourned for summer recess last week, and the Senate is expected to adjourn today, so things will be slowing down for the rest of August. Also in this issue we tell you about three new policy papers about health care reform that were approved at the July Board of Regents meeting.
Look for our next issue after Labor Day. Congress will be back in session and we’ll be able to update you with the progress that was made toward health care reform while they were in recess.
For more about health care reform, other health policy issues, and discussions among ACP members check out my blog, The ACP Advocate Blog by Bob Doherty. I’m going to be out of the office for the next few weeks, while I’m away we’ll be posting guest blogs from other members of the ACP staff. You’ll be hearing from our ethics department, our regulatory affairs department, our health policy department, and our vice president for practice advocacy and improvement. I hope you’ll visit to read what they all have to say, and I hope you’ll join me over the next few months as we discuss ACP’s efforts in guiding health care reform.
And, as always, please send your feedback and suggestions on this newsletter to: TheACPAdvocate@acponline.org.
Yours truly,
Bob Doherty
Senior Vice President
Governmental Affairs and Public Policy
American College of Physicians
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In the news
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ACP Takes Stand on Key Health Reform Issues |
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Individual mandates, tax exclusion reform and a public plan option are given conditional endorsement |
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The American College of Physicians has weighed in on three controversial aspects of health reform legislation being considered by Congress.
In documents released in late July, ACP agreed that:
Individuals should be required to... » Click to read the full article
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In focus
ACP President Speaks at News Conference with Senators about Health Care Reform
Last week ACP President Dr. Stubbs joined Senators Harry Reid, Charles Schumer, Patty Murray, and Richard Durbin, along with leadership from other medical societies, to discuss the importance of health care reform. At the news conference, Dr. Stubbs urged Congress to enact reforms to provide all Americans with affordable health insurance coverage, and a delivery system to meet their health care needs. AAFP, AOA, AMSA, Doctors for America, and the National Physicians Alliance, together representing 450,000 physicians and medical students, joined with ACP to express the critical need for reform. |
ACP Lends Support to Legislative Provisions to Improve End of Life Care
Last week ACP signed on to a letter in support of the provisions included in section 1223 of the House health care reform bill (H.R. 3200). In the letter Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) urged his congressional colleagues to support these provisions that would provide Medicare coverage for physician consultations with patients who wish to develop end of life care plans. These provisions in the legislation would also provide grants to create or expand state and community-based programs to assist with advanced care planning. |
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