As part of its ongoing legislative advocacy efforts, ACCP is currently working with the GOP Doctors Caucus, an informal congressional body of Republican members of Congress with medical and health care provider backgrounds dedicated to patient-centered health care policy. The caucus often provides meaningful guidance to congressional Republican leadership. It’s natural that leaders in Congress listen to their colleagues with health care backgrounds and, more importantly, listen to constituents who are health care professionals. That’s why we need you to get involved. Click here to write to Congress and explain why Medicare coverage should include access to comprehensive clinical pharmacy services.

Capitol Hill Strategy—GOP Doctors Caucus

Both independently and as part of multiorganizational coalitions, ACCP has been active on Capitol Hill, holding meetings with leading offices serving on the legislative committees with jurisdiction over Medicare:

• Senate Finance Committee
• House Energy and Commerce Committee
• House Ways and Means Committee

In particular, we have been conducting productive conversations with members of the GOP Doctors Caucus—composed of medical providers in Congress who work to develop patient-centered, patient-driven health care reforms focused on quality, access, affordability, portability, and choice. Targeting these offices provides ACCP with a forum to respond to questions over the “scope creep” advocacy campaign of the American Medical Association (AMA). By highlighting the Standards of Practice for Clinical Pharmacists and the collaborative process of care that clinical pharmacists perform on behalf of patients, ACCP’s team in Washington, DC, believes there is an opportunity to enhance our collaborative advocacy work with medical societies, including the AMA.

Grassroots Advocacy

ACCP’s strategic priorities focus on developing, positioning, and advancing clinical pharmacists, and our Washington office takes this commitment very seriously. We firmly believe that our advocacy success depends on helping policymakers understand the unique value that clinical pharmacists bring to patient care teams. Hearing directly from clinical pharmacists about your practice and impact on patients is essential to develop this understanding.

Our annual Capitol Hill Lobby Day brings clinical pharmacists directly to Congress, but even if you can’t travel to Washington, DC, to lobby on Capitol Hill, you can quickly write to Congress to urge support for expanding Medicare coverage to include comprehensive clinical pharmacy services. ACCP has created a preformatted email template that allows you to automatically send a letter to your US senators and representative, according to your home address. This streamlined process ensures that you can make a meaningful impact in less than 2 minutes by expressing your views on this important issue. Click here to take action now!

ACCP-PAC Supports Our Advocacy Communications

ACCP-PAC is the only federal political action committee dedicated specifically to advancing the practice of clinical pharmacists and the care of their patients. We support candidates whose views align with ACCP’s mission to advance the profession and improve human health and who have demonstrated leadership on issues important to ACCP members, such as protecting Medicare funding for pharmacy residencies. Click here to learn more about ACCP-PAC.

ACCP-PAC is the only means by which ACCP can provide financial support to help candidates for Congress who understand and support our issues and share our vision of a team-based, patient-centered, quality-driven approach to health care delivery.

ACCP-PAC is a nonpartisan, member-driven initiative, and all decisions regarding financial contributions to candidates are made by the PAC Governing Council according to certain established criteria:

• Position on key health care committees in Congress
• Proven support for pharmacy and health care–related issues
• Previous health care experience

ACCP members who contribute to the PAC may recommend candidates to receive contributions. All PAC contributor recommendations will be considered; however, we may not accommodate all requests. The ACCP-PAC Governing Council must approve all candidate contributions.

For more information, visit the ACCP-PAC website at www.accpaction.org or contact John McGlew ([email protected]).