Jan. 25, 2024

By Steven Furr, M.D., FAAFP
AAFP President

I visited more than half a dozen AAFP chapters last year during my term as the Academy’s president-elect. Connecting AAFP leaders directly with members in their home states is one of the many ways we hear about the challenges family physicians face and how practices are being affected by laws and regulations at the state and national level.

More recently, I had the privilege to meet with members of the AAFP’s commissions, who gathered during the Academy’s Winter Cluster Jan. 19-21 in Kansas City, Mo. More than 100 family physicians volunteer their time and expertise to eight commissions to help guide the Academy’s work on a broad range of topics related to advocacy, clinical issues, education, practice improvement and membership.

Equipped with the benefit of members’ feedback and insights, I traveled Jan. 23-24 to Washington, D.C., with AAFP Board Chair Tochi Iroku-Malize, M.D., M.P.H., FAAFP, and President-elect Jen Brull, M.D., FAAFP. In two days on Capitol Hill, we attended meetings together with congressional staff from the leadership offices of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

We also met individually with staff from our respective states’ representatives and senators. The topics focused on three key issues:

• Medicare payment: Multiple bills have been introduced to address payment cuts that took effect Jan. 1., but we need prompt action to mitigate the impact on primary care. Meanwhile, remember that starting this month family physicians can use the G2211 add-on code along with evaluation and management codes to receive additional payment for high-value visits, and the Academy has resources that can help you implement its use.

• GME funding: Reauthorization of the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program before a March 8 deadline. This training program, which has proven its worth in developing primary care physicians who will practice in rural and underserved areas, needs and deserves long-term funding and stability.

• DEA license renewals: The Medication Access and Training Expansion Act, which took effect last year, requires clinicians to complete eight hours of education to renew a Drug Enforcement Administration license for the treatment and management of patients with opioid or other substance use disorders. The DEA has accepted training accredited by more than a dozen organizations, but the AAFP Credit System is not one of them. The AAFP has been working with Congress to address this and strongly supports the legislative fix included in the SUPPORT Act. Congress must swiftly pass this legislation to ensure that trained family physicians can continue to provide necessary care, including substance use disorder treatment.

It’s important for legislators and regulators to hear from the Academy, but individual family physicians should also recognize your own ability to influence policy. It’s incredibly powerful for legislators to hear directly from their own constituents. When you call and say, “I’m a voter in your district,” that gets their attention. You also can tell them how policies are affecting your patients, who also are their constituents and voters.

You can add your voice to AAFP’s advocacy efforts by utilizing the resources in the links below to address

• Medicare payment,

• GME funding, and

• DEA license renewals.

 It’s worth noting that registration is open for the Family Medicine Advocacy Summit. That May 19-21 event in Washington, D.C., gives family docs the tools to be effective advocates and a day on Capitol Hill to put those skills into action.

Whether within the AAFP; Washington, D.C.; or your own state capitol, you have the ability and right to make your voice heard. Meanwhile, I’m in Deadwood, S.D., this week for the South Dakota AFP’s annual meeting. As usual, I’m listening.