Welcome to The ACP Advocate.
On Wednesday we held ACP’s annual State of the Nation’s Health Care briefing at the National Press Club in Washington. At the event ACP President Joe Stubbs and I spoke to reporters about the urgent need to move forward with health care reform. Our first story this week takes a closer look at what we had to say at our briefing.
Our second story also examines the issue of health care reform. We look at the President’s decision to convene a bipartisan summit on Feb. 25 to hear ideas from both political parties on how to move forward on health care reform. Also, we provide an update on where things stand in Congress on averting a scheduled 21% Medicare physician payment cut on March 1. Since Congress is expected to take up the Medicare pay cut issue next week, check ACP’s Running a Practice Web site for the latest developments.
Finally, our third story this week looks at the new mental health parity regulations that will take effect this summer. ACP strongly supported the effort to pass this legislation, and while the specifics of the regulation are not yet final, we are hopeful that these new rules will be of great benefit for patients seeking mental health treatment.
For more coverage of health care reform and what’s happening in Washington, take a look at my blog, The ACP Advocate Blog by Bob Doherty. I’m happy to tell you that the blog was the winner of the best Health Policy/Ethics Weblog category of the Medical Weblog Awards. Thanks to those of you who voted.
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