AAFP leaders address national committees
Two AAFP Board members took Academy concerns to committees in the nation's capital recently.
Bruce Bagley, M.D., of Albany, N.Y., testified before the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Jan. 29. Bagley asked for a fiscal year 1999 funding level of $87 million for family practice training programs, compared with the current funding of about $49 million. He noted this is the first time in recent years that the president's budget calls for level funding for the programs (about $49 million for family practice) instead of drastic cuts.
Bagley also sought a $50 million increase in funding (over the current $146 million) for the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, particularly for its Center for Primary Care Research, and he called for continued support for rural health activities.
Ronald Christensen, M.D., of Anchorage, Alaska, presented testimony Feb. 3 to the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health, a committee of the Department of Health and Human Services. He addressed rural America's shortage of primary care physicians and the need to remedy problems created for graduate medical education in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.
Family physicians on the advisory committee supported Christensen's presentation, and the committee made recommendations in line with AAFP's positions. The recommendations will be sent to the HHS secretary and relevant congressional committees.
Both AAFP statements are available at http://www.aafp.org/gov on the Web.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department. Copyright © 1998 by American Academy of Family Physicians.