In late May over 200 family physicians descended upon Washington, DC for the annual American Academy of Family Physicians Family Medicine Congressional Conference (FMCC). Your Academy was well represented by eight of your colleagues who learned about federal health care reform and conducted advocacy meetings on behalf of your patients with US Senators, Murray and Cantwell, and most of Washington’s congressional delegation and their staffs.
A nice cross section representing Family Medicine made the trip to attend the conference including WAFP President-Elect Dr. Steve Albrecht from Olympia, Drs. Jo Jackson, Jeremia Bernhardt, Antonio Germann, Judith Pauwels, and Valory Wangler from Seattle, as well as AAFP Board member Glen Stream and Anne Montgomery from Spokane. WAFP Executive Vice President Karla Pratt and Ardis Davis from STFM were along as well.
To kick off the conference, AAFP’s government relations team planned an informative day of sessions designed to brief FMCC attendees on the multiple issues and interests swirling around health care reform in Washington, DC. Conference participants were briefed on two primary issue areas; “Health Reform: Valuing Primary Care in a New Delivery System,” and “Health Reform: Assuring a Sufficient Primary Care Workforce”. Each topic of focus informed attendees about the array of proposals pending in Congress and incorporated roundtable discussions which included panels made up of advocacy and research experts (including our own Dr. Bob Crittenden), along with professional staff from the US Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) and House Energy and Commerce Committees. Breakout Sessions buffeted each plenary focusing on topics ranging from how to lobby effectively and build coalitions, to developing solid grassroots relationships. There were also breakouts focused on issuespecific education, the view from inside a US Senate office, and information about the AAFP’s government relations organization, FamMedPAC, and its “Connect for Reform” campaign.
The plenary and breakout sessions were brilliant preparation for WAFP’s delegation to be effective and timely, to advocate knowledgeably, and to understand where the current, real life examples of the challenges you face in primary care in Washington State would be most relevant in communicating that reform that must take place now.
Your colleagues shared your passion and commitment to delivering the best care to your patients and the need to build a system that will support and value the delivery of quality primary care. They were articulate advocates in meetings asking that Congress design a system that will emphasize a strong, central primary care core of services, accessible to all, which requires that Congress:
WAFP’s participation in the 2009 FMCC was impressive,and I encourage you to talk with your colleagues who were able to attend about the opportunity and what they feel was accomplished. There are opportunities for WAFP members from a couple of congressional and some key state legislative districts to become more engaged in the AAFP and WAFP Key Contact programs.
If you are interested in becoming more involved, or have a relationship in place that could facilitate communication, please get in touch with your chapter executive, Karla Pratt (karla@wafp.net; 425-747-3100). Also, keep an eye out for upcoming WAFP Policy and Advocacy Leadership training opportunities in late fall and the early days of the 2010 Washington legislative session.