As the saying goes, the presidential election doesn’t truly begin until Labor Day – and that’s exactly where we find ourselves now, with the conventions finished, tickets finalized, and debates upcoming.
For those of us in healthcare advocacy, this time of year can be challenging. We have more opportunities to discuss priorities with policymakers, but at the same time, we can’t predict the future. So, how is the ACG Legislative and Public Policy Council positioning the College’s legislative priorities while results of the upcoming election – and as a result, the incoming administration’s goals – are unknown?
The answer lies in focus, framing, and flexibility.
Regardless of which party wins control of the White House and Congress, we remain laser-focused on several issues:
1. Supporting GI patient care issues and increasing access to GI services, like colorectal cancer screenings, preventive care, clinical trials, and telehealth access and reimbursement.
2. Adopting Medicare physician fee schedule reforms, and addressing how inaction is impacting patient access to care, healthcare consolidation, and workforce challenges. Earlier this year, the LPPC finalized a set of principles to guide ACG’s advocacy efforts in this space – we encourage you to review them.
3. Reducing administrative burdens and improving productivity, through reforms to prior authorization, step therapy, and MIPS compliance.
While these priorities are our north star, adjusting how we frame and discuss them is key – especially with policymakers of differing party affiliations or political ideologies. As attendees of our annual advocacy days know, for some Members of Congress, that might mean spending more time on local stories or the importance of independent GI practices; for others, maybe it’s health equity impacts and the financial bottom-line. And as always, we’ll keep patients at the center and reiterate the sanctity of the physician-patient relationship.
We also need to be flexible regarding the next administration’s healthcare goals and be agile enough to add our voice as their priorities become known. Although neither candidate has released a comprehensive ‘healthcare plan,’ the Kaiser Family Foundation created a useful comparison tool on many topics of interest to GI, including insurance coverage, ACA reforms, prescription drug pricing, and others. In the past, ACG has seized opportunities to collaborate with the Trump and Biden administrations on their priorities, like hospital price transparency, surprise billing, and banning non-compete clauses.
Finally, we believe flexibility also means recognizing that Washington, D.C. doesn’t have to be – and perhaps, shouldn’t be – the sole focus of our work. Over the last year, the ACG Board of Governors and hundreds of members across the country channeled their frustration with federal gridlock into advocacy for meaningful state reforms. These victories include improved access and reduced financial barriers to colorectal cancer screenings in five states and reigned in prior authorization and step therapy requirements in another seven. We’re also looking forward to our continued partnership with patient advocacy groups like the Colon Cancer Coalition, whose 5K races do a fantastic job of supporting our patients and raising awareness in our communities.
As we navigate the uncertainty of the coming months together, know this: ACG will continue to be your home for advancing the public policy goals of clinical GI, and the LPPC will be very busy this fall and heading into 2025!