From the March 13, 2018 ACP Advocate
Take a behind-the-scenes look at how policies are formulated, discussed and end up as a formal position
Each year, the American College of Physicians (ACP) develops anywhere between four to six new public policies, and the process itself always starts with an idea.
This idea can come from the Board of Regents, the College governance, state and local chapters and/or any of ACP's committees, councils or staff. Sometimes it may even be ripped from the headlines depending on the news cycle. These policies address a wide range of issues from relieving administrative burdens and improving payments for internists' services to climate change and health care reform to reining in the opioid epidemic, improving quality measures and reducing health disparities, plus more.
Take climate change, for example. This wasn't really on the College's radar until ACP's Board of Governors, an advisory board to the Board of Regents, passed a resolution on the subject.
And from there it was all hands on deck, explained Renee Butkus, director of ACP's health policy in Washington, DC. “When we get a resolution, we research the data in the literature, do an assessment of other organizations' policies as well as any legislative or regulatory activity, and then the responsible committee will review it and give us direction,” she said. Committees include the Health and Public Policy Committee (HPPC), the Medical Practice and Quality Committee (MPQC) and the Ethics, Professionalism and Human Rights Committee (EPHRC).
Read the full article in ACP Advocate.
The ACP Advocate is a bi-weekly e-newsletter that provides ACP members with news about public policy issues affecting internal medicine and patient care.