Latest updates on ACP's priorities, initiatives
ACP Spotlight offers readers a look at ACP's current top priorities and initiatives, as well as highlights from our e-newsletter, ACP Internist Weekly.
COVID-19 guide, other resources for physicians freely available from ACP
“COVID-19: An ACP Physician's Guide,” is a continually updated resource produced by the College to provide the latest information on COVID-19. This resource can be easily accessed on handheld devices and offers a clinical overview of infection control and patient care guidance.
Annals of Internal Medicine has made coronavirus-related content freely available. ACP Members can discuss the epidemic with their peers in our Member Forum. An ACP guide to telehealth coding and billing for COVID-19 is online. ACP has been advocating for direct support and appropriate regulatory relief for ACP members, their practices, and their patients. More information about ACP advocacy efforts related to COVID-19 can be found online.
ACP honors outstanding chapter activities with John Tooker Evergreen Awards
ACP announced five John Tooker Evergreen Awards to Chapters on April 22, 2020. The John Tooker Evergreen Awards Program provides recognition and visibility to Chapters that have successfully implemented programs to increase membership and member engagement, improve communication and chapter management, enhance diversity, and foster careers in internal medicine. The 2020 winners are as follows.
- Colombia: Establish the First Colombia Point of Care Ultrasound Training Course in Internal Medicine
- Indiana and Chile: Celebrating 10 Years of Sisterhood and Collaboration
- New Jersey: Community Outreach Project
- Oregon: Women in Medicine Month Social Media Campaign/Initiative
- Pennsylvania: A Podcast Learning Curriculum to Encourage Advocacy
- Texas: Healing the Healers: Building Resilience for Physicians
For more information on a program, contact Julia Baldini at jbaldini@acponline.org.
In addition to the John Tooker Evergreen winners, ACP is giving special recognition to five Chapters for their effort to implement new programs: Arizona for Increasing Annual Scientific Meeting Attendance; Hawaii for Rock the Docs; Massachusetts for Health and Public Policy Subcommittee Structure; New York for their three programs, Campaign to Support Legislation in NY to Permit Medical Exemptions Only for Immunizations, Early Adopter Incentive Program: Helping Physicians Empower Patients, and Opioid and Pain Management Education; and Washington for Strategies for Clinicians to Prevent Firearm Injury & Death CME Event.
ACP develops new Cost of Care resources for patients, updates tools for physicians
ACP has developed new Cost of Care resources for patients, including a fact sheet to help them understand and manage health care costs. In addition, several resources are available to help clinicians have cost conversations with patients, including a Cost Distress Identification tool, a Cost Conversation guide, and a Steps to Estimate the Cost of Care guide, among others. These resources were recently updated based on input from clinicians and patients.
The resources were developed with grant support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
ICYMI: Highlights from ACP Internist Weekly
Overdose deaths from synthetic opioids increase while overall opioid deaths decline. From 2017 to 2018, overdose deaths related to prescription opioids and heroin decreased by 14% and 4%, respectively, and overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids increased by 10%, according to CDC data. The findings of the study were published by Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on March 20 and were summarized in the March 31 ACP Internist Weekly.
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force expands hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening recommendation to most adults. The Task Force updated its 2013 recommendation for screening in patients at high risk for infection as well as one-time screening for adults born between 1945 and 1965. Most adults need to be screened only once. Those who use injection drugs should be screened periodically, but there is limited information about the best screening interval; it is also not known how pregnancy changes the need for additional screening, the recommendation stated. The new recommendation and evidence review were published March 2 by JAMA and were summarized in the March 10 ACP Internist Weekly.
ACP Internist Weekly is an e-newsletter published on Tuesdays and available online. Subscribe online.
