The AAFP's Work with Congress and the Trump-Vance Administration

The Academy recognizes the importance of improving both the efficiency and the efficacy of care delivery. Expanding primary care delivery systems and reforming payment will drive value for patients through continuous and comprehensive contact, with the goal of improving patients’ health outcomes and the doctor-patient experience. To be successful, reforms need to re-emphasize the importance of primary care and prevention.

Family physicians are overburdened by administrative functions at the point of care and after patient care hours — a task volume further compounded by the lack of harmonization in these functions across payers. The Academy is determined to help family physicians lower administrative roadblocks by identifying and eliminating regulations and processes that add cost while undermining the efficient delivery of high-quality care.

Primary care has never been more important yet continues to face some of the greatest challenges in the health care system. The United States will need up to 40,400 more primary care physicians by 2036  to prevent a workforce shortage. The Academy continues to work for creating a robust primary care workforce positioned to serve all communities, including underserved and rural populations. 

The AAFP advocates for policies ensuring that all Americans have access to timely, high-quality primary care. We work to improve individual and population health — with particular focus on correcting disparities in health care access, affordability and quality — by championing legislation and regulations that expand coverage and achieve better health outcomes while protecting physician payment, lessening physicians’ administrative burdens and strengthening the primary care workforce. The AAFP is committed to building on what works in the present system and redesigning what does not.