Antidote to Burnout
Dr. Downey sees added value to advocacy beyond its importance to the field. “I would say that involvement with government affairs is an antidote to burnout,” she says. “You may not see a difference in policy after one visit to the Capitol or one letter to your representative, but over the years, we do see differences.”
During her first Capitol Hill visit as part of the Advocacy 101 program, for example, the goal was to secure repeal on therapy caps for Medicare patients. The effort was successful, and the days of rationing physical therapy for Medicare patients are a thing of the past. “So we do make a difference over time,” Dr. Downey concludes.
Serving on the GAC and engaging in advocacy represents “tapping into a higher sense of purpose,” she notes. “Being able to care for patients in a broader way [through advocacy] really adds to my own self-efficacy and sense of purpose. It’s definitely soul-recharging.”
Plans for the Committee
Dr. Downey’s first goal as GAC chair is to learn as much as she can from Dr. Solow, the outgoing chair, as well as access the expertise and knowledge of the committee members and ACR staff. She then intends to devote some of the committee’s focus to the issue of reimbursements for ultrasounds done by rheumatologists.
“We’ve recently suffered a pay cut for reimbursement for these services,” she says. Investment in the machines and supplies is costly, but point-of-care ultrasounds offer both a cost savings to the healthcare system and a boon for patients, she points out.
“This is very patient-friendly because we don’t have to refer them out for an MRI, and patients can get answers in real time rather than having to make a follow-up appointment,” she says. “Getting a return on reasonable reimbursement for scans done in the rheumatology clinic is high on my list of priorities.”
To achieve that goal, Dr. Downey is ready to take a long view and be persistent. From her advocacy experiences to date, she says, she’s learned that “everything is in flux, and just because the winds are not in your sails this term, that doesn’t mean that they won’t be next time.”
Gretchen Henkel is a health and medical journalist based in California.
