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Congressional Caucus Speakers to Discuss Mental Illness, Access to Care, Rural Health Issues

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, January 11, 2008

Contact:
Leslie Champlin
American Academy of Family Physicians
(800) 274-2237, Ext. 5224
lchampli@aafp.org

Will people with mental illness gain equal access to the health care system in 2008? Will elderly and disabled patients continue to have unfettered access to medical care? Will physicians and their colleagues in hospitals, pharmacies and peer offices be able to communicate via electronic health records next year?

Those and other questions remain on the table when Congress returns to Washington. Whether and how the issues will be resolved is the focus of a forum, “What Will the Congressional Health Caucuses be Addressing in 2008?” sponsored by the Robert Graham Center.

The forum will feature the

* Rural Health Care Coalition, with Leanie Rhinehart, from the office of Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-ND;
* House 21st Century Health Care Caucus, with Rachael Bornstein, from the office of Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-RI; and
* Congressional Mental Health Caucus, with Elizabeth Ziegler from the office of Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Calif.

The forum is open to the news media.

What: “What Will the Congressional Health Caucuses be Addressing in 2008?”
When: Tuesday, Jan. 29
8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Where: Cosmos Club
2121 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC

Reserve space by Jan. 25, contact:
Janelle Gillings
The Robert Graham Center
202-331-3360, Ext 2602, or 1-877-349-0461, Ext. 2602,
jgillings@aafp.org

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About the Robert Graham Center
The Robert Graham Center conducts research and analysis that brings a family medicine perspective to health policy deliberations in Washington. Founded in 1999, the Center is an independent research unit working under the personnel and financial policies of the American Academy of Family Physicians. For more information, please visit http://www.graham-center.org .

Founded in 1947, the AAFP represents more than 93,000 physicians and medical students nationwide. It is the only medical society devoted solely to primary care.

Nearly one in four of all office visits are made to family physicians. That is 215 million office visits each year – nearly 48 million more than the next medical specialty. Today, family physicians provide the majority of care for America’s underserved and rural populations.

In the increasingly fragmented world of health care where many medical specialties limit their practice to a particular organ, disease, age or sex, family physicians are dedicated to treating the whole person across the full spectrum of ages. Family medicine’s cornerstone is an ongoing, personal patient-physician relationship focused on integrated care.

To learn more about the American Academy of Family Physicians and about the specialty of family medicine, please visit www.aafp.org.

For more information about the AAFP's positions on issues and clinical care and downloadable multi-media on family medicine and health care, visit the AAFP Media Center.

For more information about health care, health conditions, and wellness, please visit familydoctor.org.