Dr. Shepherd came to the ISC chair position through several previous ACR volunteer roles with CORC and the Government Affairs Committee. Her close proximity to Washington, D.C., helped her participate in on-site ACR government affairs work, including insurance advocacy efforts.
Connecting Practices with Needed Insurance Support
Many ACR members are unaware of the support they can seek from the ISC to solve insurance practice challenges. Dr. Shepherd aims to change this, while also continuing successful ongoing ISC advocacy efforts. In coordination with ISC members and ACR staff, she has laid out four goals for the year ahead:
Improve ACR member access to ISC support and resources. “We want to make sure we are accessible to our membership,” she stresses. Through the ACR’s upcoming website redesign, the ISC will be contributing ideas to provide members easier access to insurance support and related resources.
Continue work with Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs). These efforts have been ongoing for several years, and the ISC will continue to advocate for recognition of the complexity of the medications administered by rheumatologists. “We aim to assist the contractors in understanding how powerful our drugs can be and how carefully we prepare and monitor them,” Dr. Shepherd shares.
Advocate for provider perspectives with insurance companies and PBMs. The ACR has taken an active role in speaking out against practices such as restricted formularies and white bagging, and the ISC will lend support to ensure this advocacy continues.
Work to streamline prior authorizations. The ISC will advocate for streamlined approaches to prior authorization to reduce delayed patient access to care, Dr. Shepherd says. “Too often, the process to get prior authorization approval is extremely cumbersome and doesn’t serve its intended purpose to patients or providers.”
When not giving her time to her rheumatology patients and ACR volunteer work, Dr. Shepherd balances her time between her husband, two teenagers and her 10-acre farm. Married to a musculoskeletal radiologist, she says family dinner conversation often centers around work talk, which she admits drives her teens crazy. When she and her family can leave the farm, they enjoy world travel and are planning their next trip to Iceland.
Dr. Shepherd encourages members to connect with the ISC directly for help with practice insurance issues by sending an email to [email protected].
Carina Stanton is a freelance science journalist based in Denver.
