Colorado Governor's Newsletter October 2025
Gail E. Mizner, MD, FACP, ACP Governor
GOVERNOR’S CORNER
Greetings, Colleagues!
Well, the summer flew by, and the gorgeous fall colors are threatening to disappear before I get a letter out to you, so here goes. (I'm sure you've all been checking your emails daily for my belated missive.) In addition to fulfilling my bucket list wish of singing in an opera chorus this summer (La Boheme at the Aspen Music Festival and School in August), I have been very busy, along with the other members of the ACP State Advocacy Pilot Project strategic planning committee, working on our project to introduce State Universal Vaccine Purchasing legislation in Colorado. I will tell you more about that and other things that our chapter and the National ACP are doing to fight the current attacks on evidence-based medicine in our country in the Advocacy section. I will not pretend that this letter is short. As usual, please feel free to click on the areas that interest you, whether that's education, advocacy, collegiality and mentoring, or governance. But I do have one special appeal to make to all of you. If you know an ACP Colorado member who stands out for their excellence and dedication in education, community service and volunteerism, rural medicine, or healthcare advocacy, please consider nominating them for one of our chapter awards. We've extended the deadline to October 19th. You can find more details under Collegiality and Mentoring.
EDUCATION
Save These Dates!
Our annual Chapter Meeting is scheduled for February 6-7, 2026 at The Broadmoor. A full schedule and the registration link will be sent out soon, but I can tell you now that we have terrific speakers lined up to give you presentations on topics such as Practical Solutions to Common Skin Problems, An Evidence Based Approach to Urinary Incontinence (titled Live, Love, Leak), Advance Care Planning, Update in Infectious Diseases, Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy, and more. On top of that, we will once again have our Art Corner, Forest for the Trees presentations, the Awards Ceremony, and time for networking—both meeting new people and reconnecting with old colleagues. Please mark your calendars now!
The 2026 National ACP meeting will be held in the beautiful city of San Francisco on April 16-18th. Registration link here.
ADVOCACY
Some of you have asked me what the ACP is doing to try to combat the recent attacks on evidence-based medicine and what you can do to get involved. The answer is A LOT both at the national and state levels, and I'm excited to tell you about it.
National ACP
As many of you know, in addition to lobbying congress regarding Medicaid, ACA, and NIH cuts, in July the American College of Physicians together with other medical societies and a physician patient filed a lawsuit against HHS and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for unilateral and unlawful changes in vaccine policy, and in September, the ACP called for Secretary Kennedy's removal at HHS. These historic actions are unusual for the ACP, which does not normally speak out against individuals, but they demonstrate our organization's commitment to protecting patients, physicians and public health from harmful interference with medical decision-making. They make me proud.
The following two links will give you as deep a dive as you want to take into all areas of ACP Advocacy in the first link and immunization work in particular in the second link:
Latest ACP Advocacy | ACP Online
Adult Immunization | ACP Online
Colorado ACP Chapter
State Advocacy Pilot program:
Our State Advocacy Pilot Program Planning Committee could not have picked a timelier project than State Universal Vaccine Purchasing (SUVP). SUVP would decrease costs and increase vaccine access for ALL residents of Colorado no matter their insurance status or geographic location while at the same time decreasing costs, liability from vaccine wastage, and administrative hassles for physicians. On top of that it would save payers, including Medicaid, money and make our state better able to control our vaccine supply and assure we have access to all evidence-based vaccines. This fact sheet provides more detail about how SUVP works.
Our committee has been in meetings with physicians, administrators, and public health experts from other states with SUVP and with multiple stakeholders here in Colorado including CDPHE, HCPF (Medicaid), Immunize Colorado, the Governor's office, the Colorado Medical Society, the Colorado Academy of Family Medicine, the CO chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital, Kaiser, and the Colorado Association of Health Plans. We are collaborating with an organization called KidsVax which has helped draft sample legislation including an innovative program called SNIP (Safety Net Immunization Program) which would increase the availability of vaccines for uninsured adults beyond the limited resources of the existing 317 program. Here's a description of SNIP.
We are currently talking with potential legislative sponsors and are hoping to get legislation introduced and passed during the upcoming legislative session which starts in January.
CO ACP will be holding our very first State Lobby Day on Wednesday, February 4th during which we will focus on SUVP. We chose that date both because early February and the middle of the week are ideal times to talk to legislators, but also because it is right before our chapter meeting. So, those of us from far away who want to participate can make one trip to Denver instead of two. But even if you are unable to travel to Denver for Lobby Day, you will be able to make your voice heard both before and after via emails or phone calls. Our representatives want to hear from the people they are representing, so if you live in a district outside the greater metropolitan area, your voice is even more important! Please watch for further communications.
We will hold a zoom meeting one week prior to Lobby Day to get those who are participating prepared. But if you want to start learning more about state level advocacy now, I recommend the following webinars:
- The recording from the State Health Policy Webinar from July 31st link
- The upcoming State Health Policy Webinar on November 5th from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm MST. (Since Dave Downs and I will both be out of the country, the strategic planning committee's Dr Suzanne Brandenburg will be giving a brief presentation about our state's work on vaccine access). Registration link here
Other Colorado Advocacy Work:
In the past month, CO ACP has signed on to several important letters: 1) a letter to DOI supporting their emergency regulation ensuring COVID-19 vaccines are covered as a preventive service 2) a letter to CDPHE supporting the proposed rule that school immunization requirements follow AAP guidelines rather than ACIP guidelines and 3) a letter to the CO Medical Board supporting changes to tighten the PA supervision requirements.
Because of our work on SUVP, CO ACP was invited to join a new coalition called Colorado Chooses Vaccines-- a growing alliance of experts, organizations, policymakers, and businesses committed to keeping life-saving vaccines accessible and trusted, no matter what happens federally.
CO ACP is joining with a group called Ceasefire Legislative Action to co-host an in-person brain-storming session on November 11th from 8:30 am to noon at the Posner Center (1031 33rd St, Denver). If gun safety is one of your issues, please try to attend!
Leadership Day 2026 is scheduled for May 12th and 13th. We hope to once again bring a great team from Colorado to Washington, DC to lobby our representatives in Congress.
COLLEGIALITY AND MENTORSHIP
Awards Program:
The deadline for award nominations has been extended until October 19th! We have six annual awards recognizing excellence in various aspects of internal medicine practice:
- ACP Colorado Chapter Laureate Award
- Robert B. Gibbons, MD, MACP Distinguished Medical Educator Award
- Joel S. Levine, MD, MACP Distinguished Healthcare Advocate Award
- Award for Excellence in Rural Health Care
- Early Career Physician Awards
- Community Service and Volunteerism Award
Please take a few minutes to nominate deserving colleagues. The nomination process is straightforward (I've done it multiple times), and recognizing excellence within our ranks is one of the most rewarding things we do as a chapter. For more details, here's the link.
Chat with the Gov: This program continues to be available for any member who would like a one-on-one conversation about ACP, career issues, or just to connect with a colleague. Simply email me at gailmiz@msn.com to schedule a time that works for both of us.
Well-Being Champions: Just a reminder that we have two well-being champions in our state: Dr Julie Cohen and Dr Janna Gelderman-Moffett. Please reach out to Colleen Keeku at colleenkeekuacp@gmail.com if you would like to contact either Julie or Janna.
GOVERNANCE
Our committee structure continues to evolve to meet the needs of our growing membership. We have several committees that would welcome new members:
- Finance Committee: Al Steinman and Allan Prochazka
- Membership Committee: Megan Hiles
- Health and Public Policy Committee: Dave Downs
- Well-Being Committee: Julie Cohen and Janna Gelderman-Moffett
- Committee of Early Career Physicians: Juan Lessing and Nick Breitnauer
Contact information for all committee chairs is available through our Executive Director, Colleen Keeku at colleenkeekuacp@gmail.com.
Chapter Meeting Logistics: Based on member feedback, we will continue holding our annual meeting at The Broadmoor despite the associated costs. Registration fees are being adjusted to maintain the quality of programming our members expect and deserve.
As always, thank you for your dedication to excellent patient care and to our profession. The work you do every day makes a difference in the lives of your patients and strengthens the practice of internal medicine in Colorado.
Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have questions, concerns, or ideas for how we can better serve our membership.
With respect and gratitude,
Gail
Gail Mizner, MD, FACP, AAHIVMS
Governor, Colorado Chapter of the American College of Physicians
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