AAFP Leader Confers With Members of Congress

"Family physicians' visibility is being raised" on Capitol Hill, said AAFP President Mary Frank, M.D., after visits with members of Congress and their aides Sept. 13 - 14.

During her time in Washington, Frank attended a breakfast meeting to help plan a fundraiser for Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee. The Academy -- through a $1,000 contribution from its new political action committee, FamMedPAC -- will co-sponsor the fundraiser, scheduled for Sept. 27 in Washington.

"Rep. Stark and I talked for about 15 minutes before the breakfast, and I sat next to him during the breakfast. We had a broad conversation about electronic technology, pay-for-performance and disincentives to medical students to select family medicine as a career," Frank said. "He brought up the topic (of student interest) and understands the lifestyle issues and economic issues. I didn't have to tell him; he told me."

Although Stark sometimes is considered at odds with medicine, he exempts family physicians from criticism and welcomed her input, said Frank. "He said -- and the Academy agrees -- that so much of what we (legislators and other stakeholders) do are patches for a system that needs to be reformed or redesigned, and that's his ultimate goal."

The session demonstrated the value of FamMedPAC, said Kevin Burke, director of the AAFP Government Relations Division. "We would never have been able to participate in such a meeting and have so much direct attention from a legislator without FamMedPAC."

Frank also visited the office of Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., to talk with her about health information technology and the use of telemedicine and mobile clinics to bring care to rural areas instead of having patients travel to metropolitan centers for care. Frank urged support for legislation that would allow physicians in small offices to receive some funding from local hospitals for EHRs without being charged with receiving an inappropriate gift.

At a meeting with Delegate Donna Christensen, M.D., D-Virgin Islands, a Congressional Black Caucus leader and a family physician, Frank discussed the health care challenges posed by Hurricane Katrina and the $10 billion cut in federal Medicaid funds that pending legislation calls for. "Her concern and ours is that the reduction in funding would cut services and drop people from Medicaid rolls primarily in communities that are already the subject of health care disparities," said Frank.

Electronic technology was the topic of a briefing with Reps. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., and Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the Democratic whip. At the briefing, Frank and others discussed uses for electronic technology other than maintaining hospital records. The uses included improving the quality of patient care and changing the health care system. Groups represented at the briefing included the American College of Physicians, American Informatics Association and Microsoft.

Before the briefing, Frank spoke with Kennedy about mental health care, an issue he champions; Medicaid; and ensuring accessible mental health care resources for Katrina victims. "Rep. Kennedy acknowledged that the Academy has supported legislation to try to get mental health parity and that family physicians provide a large proportion of mental health care for the population," said Frank.