Goals of the Health Policy Committee
1. Advocate for three major areas:
- Fair and equitable Medicare reimbursement policies
- Adequate funding for health professions training
- Support for health services research
2. Develop a learning collaborative of teachers of health policy to share curricula, resources, learning objectives, evaluation tools and other educational strategies
3. Continue to nominate SGIM members for representation on advocacy-related boards and commissions and for commissions at other agencies and organizations.
4. Educate the SGIM membership through monthly columns in Forum, advocacy alerts, JGIM articles, HealthPolicy eNews, policy briefs and other education materials.
Education Subcommittee
The HPC Education Subcommittee focuses on the overlap of health and education policy and advocacy. From a federal policy standpoint, this involves staying abreast of, and partnering with CRD Associates to advocate for, federal policy consistent with the mission and values of SGIM in undergraduate and graduate level medication education. This includes 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. Through these areas of advocacy, we seek to promote a diverse workforce which improves quality and access to care for underserved and vulnerable populations through a sustainable medical education infrastructure. In addition to federal advocacy, the subcommittee offers support for the LEAHP program, helps to maintain the Health Policy and Advocacy Curriculum, and educates the SGIM membership and general internists on advocacy and health education policy through SGIM forum articles and white papers.
Research Subcommittee
The Research Subcommittee generates policy recommendations and advocates for support for research consistent with the objectives of SGIM and for the types of research done by SGIM members, 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. The Subcommittee also advocates for research education and training that supports such research. The primary focus is 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 supports of research.
To further these goals, the Health Policy Research Subcommittee advocates via initiatives done on behalf of SGIM, often coordinated with other organizations, to inform and influence Congressional action and Administration implementation at AHRQ, NIH, and other agencies. These actions include short- and long-term efforts to ensure the support of research and research training consonant with SGIM's objectives. Subcommittee members participate in a monthly conference call. The primary focus is 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, including the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).
Clinical Practice Subcommittee
The HPC clinical practice subcommittee focuses on policy issues that impact the day to day practice of our members and the patients we serve. We focus on Medicare policy, with our primary topics falling into 2 main categories - access and payment - with equity as a cross-cutting theme. With the support of CRD Associates, SGIM’s government relations firm, 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). Areas of subcommittee focus include the following:
- Physician reimbursement: This includes activities related to the Physician Fee Schedule to support primary care and all cognitive care services.
- Telehealth equity: This includes activities related to new telehealth legislation and ongoing CMS rulemaking to ensure telehealth is implemented in an equitable and evidence-based manner.
- Equity in value-based care: This includes activities related to the Quality Payment Program to ensure programs specifically address equity and that policies do not unfairly penalize safety-net systems.
Additionally, subcommittee members frequently collaborate to address additional topics, with recent examples including Medicaid expansion and structure of a potential public option.