For the fifth consecutive year – this year, in conjunction with the 2019 ACCP Annual Meeting in New York City – ACCP’s political action committee (PAC) led the PAC PRN Challenge to determine which PRNs could generate the greatest PAC support. Throughout the challenge, PRN members who contributed to the PAC online could designate a PRN to receive credit for their contribution. The 2019 challenge recognized two winners:
- Percentage of Members Who Contributed: GI/Liver/Nutrition
- Total Dollars Raised: Ambulatory Care PRN
In recognition of their support, the winning PRNs will be awarded a coveted preferential timeslot for their PRN business meeting at the 2020 ACCP Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas. ACCP-PAC would like to thank all ACCP members who participated in this year’s challenge.
For the first time, PRNs in New York City were represented by PRN PAC captains to serve as liaisons between the PAC and their PRN. Over time, the College is confident that through its PAC captains, it will build a core of focused PAC leaders to help educate members of the centrality of ACCP-PAC to ACCP’s advocacy efforts and help build its PAC revenues.
Why Does ACCP Have a PAC?
A political action committee (PAC) is a registered, federally regulated “separate segregated fund” organized to raise and spend money to help support candidates for congressional office.
In 2010, the ACCP Board of Regents decided to establish ACCP-PAC to allow the College to actively support the campaigns of members of Congress who share its core values and policy vision, just as ACCP is active in asking for the support of these elected officials in helping advance their shared policy goals. Running for federal office is expensive, and members of Congress rely on contributions from PACs to fund their campaigns.
ACCP-PAC is nonpartisan and supports candidates regardless of political party affiliation. ACCP-PAC is member-driven, and its strategic policy decisions – including those related to which candidates receive financial contributions from ACCP-PAC – are made by the PAC Governing Council.
The College is realistic about the continuing dysfunction in Washington, D.C., and the lack of focus at the leadership level on many of the key health policy questions facing the country. However, across congressional and agency offices and at a staff level, ACCP is encouraged by the depth of these agencies’ understanding on complex issues such as team-based care implementation and the energy and creative thinking in moving these issues forward.
PAC contributions allow ACCP members to collectively donate to support members of Congress who understand that medication optimization by “getting the medications right” is central to the success of team-based, patient-centered, quality-driven health care delivery and payment.
To contribute, visit the ACCP-PAC website at www.accpaction.com.