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, I.M. Matters Weekly from ACP.
ACP's annual report for 2023-2024 released
The annual report of ACP’S CEO and Executive Vice President for 2023-2024 is available. This comprehensive report summarizes how ACP has achieved significant milestones, generated visibility about the value and impact of internal medicine physicians, developed new and innovative member-exclusive resources, and worked to support members over the past year.
ACP launches new Sex and Gender Health Learning Hub
The hub offers member-exclusive resources for caring for patients navigating sexual, reproductive, and gender-related health care concerns. Among other resources, it gives ACP members access to video recordings of relevant sessions from Internal Medicine Meeting 2024, including “Medication Abortion in 2024: What Internal Medicine Physicians Need to Know” and “Complete Contraceptive Toolkit: What's New in Contraception.”
The new hub also features curated articles on contraception and menopause and the recent re-release of ACP's “Human Trafficking: A Physician's Guide to Identification and Response” course. CME/MOC credit are available for all activities.
ACP promotes equity in LGBTQ+ health care
New challenges harm the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexual or gender minority (LGBTQ+) populations, according to ACP, which offered a new position paper that reaffirms and updates the College's policies on LGBTQ+ health.
New positions include the following:
- ACP supports additional research and scientific inquiry into gender-affirming care to improve care for transgender and gender-diverse people.
- ACP asserts that all people should be able to live openly in a manner consistent with their sexual orientation and/or gender identity without discrimination or harassment. ACP affirms that public policies should protect the civil rights of LGBTQ+ people and uphold the ability to participate in public life in a way that is consistent with one's gender identity, including in athletics, access to public facilities, government services, and other basic human services and activities.
- ACP opposes explicit restrictions on educational content that includes sexual orientation and gender identity. ACP encourages efforts to incorporate evidence-informed gender identity and sexual orientation education within society.
The recommendations also call for incorporating LGBTQ+ health into medical education and supporting programs to help recruit this population into the practice of medicine. The position paper was published June 25 by Annals of Internal Medicine.
ACP joins others supporting Surgeon General advisory on firearm violence
ACP recently announced its full support for the advisory of U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, MBA, “Firearm Violence: A Public Health Crisis in America.” The advisory details the impact of gun violence beyond death and injury, describing the layers of cascading harm for youth, families, and communities.
ACP continues advocating for more common-sense policies that will help reduce firearm-related injuries and deaths. Visit online for more of our firearm-related content and advocacy efforts.
ACP calls for evidence-based approach to cannabis regulation
ACP recently released a new position paper, “Regulatory Framework for Cannabis,” published in Annals of Internal Medicine on July 23.
In the paper, ACP provides recommendations on incorporating a public health approach to controlling cannabis in jurisdictions where it is legal, supporting ongoing research into the effects of cannabis use, providing insurance coverage of treatment for cannabis use disorder, and including information about cannabis in medical education.
ICYMI: Highlights from I.M. Matters Weekly
Semaglutide shows promise for smoking cessation. Patients taking semaglutide were less likely to have a medical encounter that included a diagnosis of tobacco use disorder than patients taking any of seven other diabetes medications, a retrospective study found. The study was published July 30 by Annals of Internal Medicine and summarized in the July 30 I.M. Matters Weekly from ACP.
Biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease may aid diagnosis, predict dementia, studies find. A Swedish study found that blood biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease had high diagnostic accuracy in primary and secondary care, while a U.S. study found that the biomarkers' association with dementia may begin in midlife. Both studies and an accompanying editorial were published July 28 by JAMA and summarized in the July 30 I.M. Matters Weekly from ACP.
I.M. Matters Weekly from ACP is an e-newsletter published every Tuesday. Subscribe online.
