Larry Green, M.D., makes a point during his Washington visit.They HIT the HILL
WASHINGTON -- If you wanted just one word to describe this year's Academy visit to Capitol Hill, that word would be "timing."
Larry Green, M.D., head of the family medicine department at the University of Colorado at Denver, agrees.
"Congress' attention was clearly turned to tobacco during the visit, and no matter what our agenda was, people wanted to talk about tobacco legislation," Green said. "The bottom line is, the visits were uncommonly well-timed.
"Here was an issue important to the Academy that was also important to the Congress, and it was happening exactly as the visits occurred."
The visits to Congress, which have taken place annually for about the last two decades, allow the Commission on Legislation and Governmental Affairs, AAFP Board members and chapter representatives to "hit the Hill" and tell legislators what family physicians and their patients want. This year, some 40 family physicians and three chapter staff members paid visits to more than 75 congressional offices May 18-19.
"This year, we felt like we really made an impact. People are paying attention."
-- Larry Green, M.D.
AAFP Director David West, M.D., of Grand Junction, Colo., said the number of participants has doubled when compared with just two years ago. "That means twice as many legislative visits, for a bigger impact," he said.
Green said that this year, Congress was much more receptive to the Academy's push for the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research to receive a $50 million budget hike for research in family practice and other primary care areas -- a increase over AHCPR's current $149 million budget.
West welcomed the attention. "For several years, we've talked about the importance of family practice research," he said. "This year, we felt like we really made an impact. People are paying attention."
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department. Copyright © 1998 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
