For our virtual Advocacy Hill Day, ACR volunteer leaders called legislators’ Washington, D.C., offices from their homes to #Act4Arthritis. Many ACR/ARP members supported our efforts by emailing their legislators. You can amplify our message by visiting the Legislative Action Center to send letters to your representatives. Act now!
The GAC has also worked closely with the ACR’s Practice & Advocacy COVID-19 Task Force to make sure we are addressing all the needs coming from the College’s membership during the pandemic. This task force has been extremely productive, generating a large amount of guidance-rich content for providers and patients. Be sure to check it out if you haven’t already. Naturally, with all the changes that have occurred, many are already asking, “What’s next?” as it relates to funding for practice solvency, the future of telemedicine, the future of medicine and how physicians are paid. Your GAC team is already enthusiastically planning the next Hill Day in September and forecasting what members’ needs may be at that time.
As I jump back into the game, I am so grateful to those of you who are serving our patients, who took a few minutes to send a letter to Congress on behalf of your colleagues and who took a day to call legislators’ offices to describe how providers are faring on the front lines. Thank you!
Blair Solow, MD, is chair of the ACR Government Affairs Committee and an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Rheumatic Diseases at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
