Latest updates on ACP's priorities, initiatives

ACP urges Senate committee to lower health care costs, invest in high-value primary care

In response to a request from the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), ACP recently outlined priorities and potential bipartisan solutions to lower health care costs, including:

• Invest in high-value primary care to guide clinical decision making and promote greater transparency in pricing and outcomes of care, as well as continued support for testing and funding new value-based payment and delivery models.
• Expand access and coverage to ensure patient protections and essential health benefits remain in place, as well as support efforts to stabilize the health insurance marketplace.
• Support a well-trained physician workforce with an emphasis on high-value primary care while sustaining funding for graduate medical education and important public health programs such as the National Health Service Corps.
• Reduce the cost of prescription drugs by preventing practices that impede generic drugs from making it to the marketplace, increasing transparency, and stemming anticompetitive practices.
• Implement a framework to formally assess existing and new administrative tasks and work to reduce, streamline, or eliminate excessive and burdensome tasks on clinicians and patients.
• Continue to improve the Quality Payment Program and facilitate meaningful improvement in patient outcomes while minimizing burden and costs in our health care system.

The letter is online.

ACP partners with TIME’S UP Healthcare, Women's Wellness through Equity and Leadership Project

ACP has entered into partnerships with TIME’S UP Healthcare, a group that advocates for safe, fair, and dignified work for all health care workers, and the Women's Wellness through Equity and Leadership Project.

Launched by women in the entertainment industry, TIME’S UP represents women across all racial, religious, and economic backgrounds. TIME’S UP Healthcare is linked to a network of leading health care institutions committed to increasing safety and equity in the industry.

The Women's Wellness through Equity and Leadership Project fosters the development of female physician leaders to build a healthier, more equitable work experience. Physicians from participating organizations will participate in webinars and meetings over the next 18 months to explore leadership skills, discuss principles for equitable and productive work environments, and form relationships with mentors. ACP's representatives are Tammy Lin, MD, MPH, FACP, of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.; LCDR Karen G. (Mayr) Zeman, MD, ACP Member, of Bethesda, Md.; and Adebisi (Bisi) Alli, DO, MS, FACP, of Phoenix.

ACP discusses transition to adult health care in recent report and audio presentation

In a new audio presentation, representatives of ACP and other physician organizations discussed how key components from a recent report on health care transitions from pediatric to adult care, published in November 2018 by Pediatrics, can be practically applied in a clinical setting. The audio presentation features guidance from ACP, along with the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians, on a clinician's role in transitional health care, special considerations for youth and young adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities, and implementation of health care transition processes.