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In this Issue:
- Governors Message
- ACP Annual Report 2021-2022
- Resolutions Update
- Coding for Clinicians
- I Raise the Rates June 2022 Edition
Bradley M. Sutter, MD, FACP, ACP Governor
Governors Message
Summer Greetings ACP Indiana Friends and Colleagues:
Since the last newsletter in early May of this year, much has happened to heighten my/our awareness of the critical need for everyone to have access to quality and timely healthcare. I had the “opportunity” to experience the value of such access firsthand when I developed a severe case of diarrheal foodborne illness in early May that eventually led to a brief hospitalization for ischemic colitis. It was literally a case of “just add (lots of) water”, but the rapid identification of the source of my GI bleeding and correction thereof was crucial to my rapid return to normal health, for which I am extremely grateful.
Even more critical is the need for all women in the United States to continue to have access to timely, safe, and high-quality reproductive health services, contraception, and abortion providers after the recent Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. The ACP immediately issued a strong statement in support of women's healthcare rights and the necessity for all women in the United States to have access to these critical reproductive health services. Please see the following links describing The College's position and policies supporting abortion rights and access HERE and HERE
I want to take this opportunity to thank our Indiana Chapter Leadership Day participants Dr. Bradley Allen, Dr. Katherine Palmisano, Dr. Rachna Chaudhari, Dr. Mohamad, and Dr. Sukhwinder Singh. We greatly appreciate your advocacy efforts on behalf of our chapter members. I asked Dr. Katherine Palmisano, one of our newest Council Members, to describe her experiences in Washington, D.C., in more detail, and her comments reinforce the value of being an involved ACP chapter member:
“This May, I had the incredible opportunity to attend ACP Leadership Day in Washington DC. I had heard about ACP Advocacy work in the past but wasn't exactly sure how my voice could make an impact. The ACP set up an incredible day of prep for us before our time on Capitol Hill. We heard from experts in their fields and advocates who have been working to advance ACP's policies and goals for decades, and by the end of it, I felt empowered and ready to speak with our representatives. We spent an entire day meeting with the Indiana senators, representatives, and their staff, having meaningful conversations. The ACP gave me the tools to clearly talk about specific issues, bipartisan issues, that we can all come together on to help improve healthcare for our patients and for our docs. I left the Hill feeling invigorated and motivated to continue my advocacy work. I have been seeking my “niche” in healthcare for a few years, and seeing how we can directly work to impact legislative change through the ACP was eye-opening for me. I am now working to spend more time with the ACP Indiana Chapter on our healthcare policy committee and am looking at ways I can be involved at a state level as well. The ACP Leadership Day was a hugely impactful and positive experience for me and I am incredibly grateful to the ACP, both at our Indiana state level and at a national level, for all they do to continue their advocacy work and support of us physicians. I hope to be an ACPLD regular and follow this passion for years to come. Thank you ACP for making this possible!”
I hope Dr. Palmisano's comments convince those of you who may have an interest in advocacy to seriously consider attending future Leadership Day events. The next such opportunity will be in May 2023.
Speaking of advocacy, as we grieve additional senseless gun violence and resulting needless casualties and deaths of innocent men, women, and children in Buffalo, Uvalde, Highland Park, Indianapolis, and (sadly) daily across the United States, it is important to know that in 2022 the ACP has either independently or jointly issued letters to Congress addressing the following: Supporting Gun Violence Prevention Research and Funding; Support for Legislative Action to Reduce Firearm Related Violence; Support for Funding Community Violence Intervention Initiative at the CDC in FY2023; Support for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act S. 2938 (Recently Passed and Signed into Law); and Support for The Protecting Our Kids Act H.R. 7910. The ACP previously issued a 2018 Position Paper Update on Reducing Firearms-related Injury and Death in 2019 . Our individual efforts, and those of the ACP, are critical in advocating for sensible gun safety legislation.
Please save the date for our first in-person Chapter Poster Session/Clinical Vignette competition on Thursday, October 27th; and our combined in-person/virtual 2022 Chapter Scientific Meeting on Friday, October 28th. Both sessions will be held at the Renaissance Indianapolis Hotel in Carmel. We hope many of you will be able to attend these relevant, CME-rich opportunities presented by Indiana-based content experts. Once again, these meetings are being offered free of charge to all attendees—only registration is required to participate.
Our Indiana Chapter is sponsoring a Vaccination Update for Internists planned for an evening session on September 14th, 2022 at 6:30 PM. We are grateful and fortunate to have our own former Governor Brad Allen, MD PhD, FACP, FIDSA provide updates for us on the following topics: the latest ACIP recommendations for adult immunization; the latest on COVID19 vaccines; and a pneumococcal vaccine refresher. More Information/Register HERE.
Have a safe, enjoyable, and restorative rest of the summer.
Sincerely,
Brad Sutter, MD, FACP
Governor, Indiana Chapter
ACP Annual Report 2021-2022
ACP is pleased to announce the release of the 2021-2022 Annual Report of the Executive Vice President and CEO, which highlights the College's significant progress on strategic initiatives and other important activities and efforts that help support internal medicine physicians and advance the profession of internal medicine.
Resolutions Update
A summary of Board of Regents (BOR) actions on resolutions debated at the Spring 2022 Board of Governors (BOG) meeting is now available. Resolutions initiated by ACP members and endorsed by a chapter council and the BOG become ACP policy when adopted by the BOR.
If you have an idea you'd like to suggest to ACP, consider submitting a resolution to your Governor or local ACP chapter. Visit our ACP chapter website for more information on how to contact your Governor or chapter staff about proposing a resolution.
Coding for Clinicians
ACP has launched new Coding for Clinicians resources to help physicians expand knowledge of clinical codes, correctly identify billable services, and accurately bill for time and expertise. The new resources include ACP member-exclusive content and the ACP Coding for Clinicians subscription series: a comprehensive, self-paced training series of 13 interactive modules eligible for CME/MOC that help physicians code smarter, document more efficiently, succeed in value-based payment systems, and optimize payments. Video recordings of ACP physician coding lectures and webinars are also available. Visit ACP's Coding for Clinicians page for more information and subscription details.
I Raise the Rates June 2022 Edition
In this edition of I Raise the Rates, you will find a variety of new resources from several public health partners, educational opportunities, and a selection of media articles related to immunization such as: ACIP Flu Vaccine Updates and U.S. FDA Advisors Recommend Change to COVID Vaccine Composition for Fall.