The Health Policy Committee (HPC) leads and oversees policy and advocacy activities for SGIM. The HPC prioritizes policies that advance SGIM’s mission and goals in education, clinical practice, and research. The HPC leads and coordinates SGIM’s direct advocacy activities in conjunction with SGIM leadership and other societies when appropriate. The Committee also supports activities initiated by our members with a particular focus on identifying and developing opportunities for advocacy by early career SGIM members.

Group Leaders

Michael Fischer, MD, MS

Group Position
Chair
Professional Role
Chief of the Section of General Internal Medicine
Affiliation
Boston Medical Center

Anders Chen, MD, MHS

Group Position
Chair, Health Policy Clinical Practice Subcommittee
Professional Role
Assistant Professor
Affiliation
University of Washington School of Medicine

Peter Cram, MBA, MD

Group Position
Chair, Health Policy Research Subcommittee
Professional Role
Professor
Affiliation
University of Texas Medical Branch School of Medicine

Daniella A. Zipkin, MD

Group Position
Chair, Health Policy Education Subcommittee
Professional Role
Professor
Affiliation
Duke University School of Medicine

Martha Gerrity, MD, MPH, PhD

Group Position
Council Liaison
Professional Role
Professor
Affiliation
VA Portland Health Care System

Francine Jetton, MA, CAE

Group Position
Staff Liaison
Professional Role
Senior Director of Communications & Publications
Affiliation
SGIM

Subgroups

Health Policy Clinical Practice Subcommittee – focuses on policy issues that impact the practice of our members. We focus on Medicare policy (access and payment) with equity as a cross-cutting theme. The subcommittee monitors and generates policy recommendations on select CMS programs and Requests for Information. We collaborate with other SGIM committees (e.g., Clinical Practice Committee, Health Equity Commission) as well as other professional organizations (e.g., ACP, AAFP).

Health Policy Education Subcommittee – focuses on the overlap of health and education policy and advocacy. This involves staying abreast of federal policy consistent with the mission and values of SGIM in undergraduate and graduate level medication education, including advocating for ongoing and sufficient federal funding for Title VII programs, raising awareness of and protecting the role of the VA in medical education, and advocating that the overall governance and financing of the federal government’s graduate medical education system has accountability, and reflects health workforce needs.

Health Policy Research Subcommittee – generates policy recommendations and advocates for support for research consistent with the objectives of SGIM, particularly the investigation of the improvement of clinical care and healthcare delivery, typically included in the broad definitions of clinical research and health services research. They advocate for research education and training that supports such research with a primary focus on supporting and providing input into research related policies for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other Federal agencies and private sector supporters of research.