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.
ACP's 2022 end-of-year advocacy highlights available
ACP's 2022 Advocacy Highlights flyer offers a look at all ACP has advocated for in the past year and highlights ACP's work:
- Urging Congress to act on key public health issues,
- Leading initiatives to improve physician practices,
- Prioritizing physician well-being,
- Championing the value of internal medicine physicians, and
- Supporting ACP member engagement in advocacy.
The flyer and other advocacy information are available online.
ACP's Coding for Clinicians now includes 2023 guidance
ACP's Coding for Clinicians learning series features 13 regularly updated self-paced activities (eligible for CME/MOC) designed to help internal medicine physicians simplify coding while optimizing payments for high-complexity care.
Newly updated 2023 coding guidance includes:
- Inpatient coding based on updated medical decision-making guidance,
- The new unified hospital inpatient/observation E&M code set,
- New time-based coding thresholds and prolonged service coding,
- Major changes to inpatient and outpatient consultation coding,
- A full spectrum of guidance on outpatient coding, critical care, pediatric care, and more.
Go online for more information and subscription details.
ACP announces 2022-2023 recipients of Mastership and national awards
The Board of Regents recently approved the 2022-2023 recipients of Mastership and national awards. If you would like to personally congratulate any of the new awardees or MACPs, please contact John Haefele, Administrator, Board of Regents and Governance Activities, at awards@acponline.org.
ACP paper calls for policies to improve environmental health for all
“Environmental Health: A Position Paper From the American College of Physicians” aims to inform physicians about environmental health and offers policymakers recommendations to reduce the adverse health consequences of climate change, improve air and water quality, reduce exposure to toxic substances, and address environmental injustice. The paper was published Oct. 25 by Annals of Internal Medicine.
ACP launches Financial Well-being Program
The new program for ACP members is designed to help internal medicine physicians manage their finances and features resources on saving, financial planning, and tax strategies, among others. A report on women physicians' financial preparedness, a debt repayment calculator, a budgeting and saving tool, and a dictionary of financial terms are also available.
New ACP case study deals with patient prejudice
“Patient Prejudice? The Patient Said What?... and What Comes Next” aims to help internal medicine physicians learn how to respond when patients display inappropriate behavior. It was developed by ACP's Ethics, Professionalism, and Human Rights Committee and the Center for Ethics and Professionalism and offers CME credit and MOC points. Learn more about ethics and professionalism activities at ACP.
ICYMI: Highlights from ACP Internist Weekly
- AHA statement reviews efficacy, safety of CAM therapies in patients with heart failure. The statement from the American Heart Association (AHA) strongly encouraged health care professionals to ask their patients about use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) at every clinical visit. Clinicians should also consider discussing the interactions, benefits, and adverse effect profiles of CAM and guideline-directed medical therapy with patients using a shared decision-making model, according to the statement. It was published Dec. 8, 2022, by Circulation and summarized in the Dec. 13, 2022, ACP Internist Weekly.
- Pandemic may have led to changes in buprenorphine treatment initiation, retention. Researchers used claims representing about 92% of all prescriptions filled at U.S. retail pharmacies to look at patterns of buprenorphine prescriptions indicated for treatment of opioid use disorder during the pandemic. While more patients received buprenorphine for opioid use disorder between March 13 and Dec. 1, 2020, than during the same period in 2019, there were about 17% fewer new prescriptions than expected, the study found. The study was published Dec. 6, 2022, by the Journal of General Internal Medicine and summarized in the Dec. 13, 2022, ACP Internist Weekly.
