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Doherty: ACP policy papers are often timely, controversial, but critical
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WASHINGTON — “The College has a long-standing interest in reducing health care disparities – basically race, ethnicity and other factors – and recently, came up with a policy paper on health care disparities of LGBT persons,” said Robert B. Doherty, ACP Senior Vice President, Governmental Affairs and Public Policy, here ACP Internal Medicine Meeting.
In addition, ACP has put out papers and policy recommendations on integration of behavioral health in primary care, firearms injury prevention, telemedicine, opioid abuse, retail clinics, clinical documentation in the 21st century and electronic nicotine delivery systems. Doherty noted the latter paper was particularly timely given yesterday’s FDA announcement about extending authority over e-cigarettes.
ACP’s Board of Governors asked its health policy group to investigate the effect of climate change on human health.
“And we found that the evidence is overwhelming that there is warming, it is being largely caused by human activity and will have devastating consequences to health,” Doherty said noting that the paper was discussed here at the annual meeting.
Prescription drug pricing is a critical issue for ACP and a major concern for voters in the upcoming election, he said.
“Democratic and Republican voters agree – the rising cost of prescription drugs is unacceptable. Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders have called for Medicare to be given the authority to negotiate drug prices. Mr. Trump at one point said he supported that but it is no longer listed on his website,” Doherty said.
The ACP has developed its own policy paper that was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine that calls for more transparency, price negotiation and ending any anti-competitive practices.
Richard L. Trachtman , JD, ACP Director of Legislative Affairs, who also spoke in the session, called on ACP members to join the Advocates for Internal Medicine Network (AIMN), which advocates for the interests of internal medicine in Washington, D.C.
For more information :
Doherty RB. 60 Minutes: Special Report on Hot Issues in Health Policy. Presented at: ACP Internal Medicine Meeting; May 5-7, 2016; Washington, D.C.
Disclosure: None of the presenters report relevant financial disclosures.