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In this Issue:
- Advocacy Update from your Governor
- Congratulations to ACP Colorado's Outstanding Medical Student of the Year
- ACP Announces Quality Agenda for Internal Medicine
Gail E. Mizner, MD, FACP, ACP Governor
Advocacy Update from your Governor
Greetings Colleagues,
This is going to be brief! Aside from reminding you about the date of our next chapter meeting, February 6-7, 2026 and of , October 18, 2025 I'm going to talk only about Advocacy with a short report on Leadership Day and our State Level Advocacy Pilot.
Leadership Day, April 28-29, 2025
We had the biggest Colorado delegation ever with 6 practicing physicians (Al Steinmann, Dave Downs, Deb Parsons, Megan Hiles, Carl Barnes, and me) and 6 trainees (Megan Parfait, Megan Moore, Abdul Basit, Brenda La, Matt Nelson, and Parker Juels).
We were asked to speak with our legislators about 3 issues: Medicare physician payment, Protecting Medicaid, and Protecting and Investing in the public health infrastructure. I was particularly impressed with our trainees who all did a terrific job speaking with the legislative aides we met explaining what cuts in funding would mean for us and our patients. Particularly impactful were stories of patients who had been able to go back to work when they got on Medicaid and got their debilitating illnesses treated.
Though all our concerns were well received, we could tell that some of the legislative aides were discouraged and frustrated by the ongoing threats to our healthcare system. As you know, the battle is on right now over Medicaid. If you have any interest and even a few minutes time, you can help make an impact by
- 1. Calling or writing Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper and your district representative. You can use these ACP talking points as a guide if you wish.
- 2. Congress is considering deep cuts to Medicaid — threatening care for veterans, seniors, rural hospitals, and working families. We're partnering with healthcare professionals across the country on a national voter-to-voter texting campaign to stop these cuts.
State Level Advocacy Pilot
The strategic planning committee has decided to work on passing legislation to create a Universal Vaccine Purchasing Program in Colorado for all ACIP approved vaccines for children and adults <65 as our first big advocacy project. Universal Purchasing programs allow states to purchase vaccines in bulk and distribute them to healthcare providers at no cost to patients or providers regardless of insurance status. These programs aim to simplify vaccine access, reduce administrative burdens for providers, and reduce costs since vaccines can be obtained at a lower cost when purchased in bulk. The programs are typically funded through assessments on insurers and other payers rather than direct patient billing. There are already over 10 other states with Universal Purchasing programs. We hope this project will hold broad appeal for our CO ACP members. For more information, please see the links below.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN GETTING INVOLVED IN THIS ADVOCACY WORK, PLEASE CONTACT either Dr Dave Downs at davedowns1@me.com or me at gailmiz@msn.com
KidsVax
- Providers: Provider offices no longer need to order private vaccine and potentially face being reimbursed less than the actual cost of the vaccine. The assessments for vaccines are paid by the health insurer, so the provider no longer needs to finance vaccine inventory. Payers: The cost of vaccines procured by the state's department of health through the CDC VFC contract are significantly ...
Vermont Vaccine Purchasing Program
Enabling Vital Health Access to Vermonters. The ensures that Vermonters gain improved access to vaccines, healthcare providers receive state-supplied vaccines at no charge, and payers benefit from cost savings through the state's bulk vaccine purchase and distribution.
Thank you for all you do!
Gail
Gail Mizner, MD, FACP, AAHIVMS
Internal Medicine Consultant and Director of Clinical Education
Mountain Family Health Centers
Governor, Colorado Chapter of the ذكذكتسٍ¤
Chair, Colorado Prescription Drug Affordability Board
Congratulations to ACP Colorado's Outstanding Medical Student of the Year
Samuel Gendelman
University of Colorado School of Medicine
ACP Announces Quality Agenda for Internal Medicine
A central component ذكذكتسٍ¤'s mission is to enhance the quality and effectiveness of health care by fostering excellence and professionalism in the practice of medicine. To focus ACP's efforts, an initiative is near completion to identify clinical topics of core importance to internal medicine practice. ACP believes that such national efforts to improve health care quality must address issues that represent most clinical encounters:
Our efforts encompass the many areas that ذكذكتسٍ¤ develops for our internal medicine community such as evidence-based clinical guidelines and performance measures; educational resources and Quality Improvement support programs; advocacy efforts to promote the issues impacting internal medicine physicians and health care; and original research and articles essential to internal medicine practice published in ACP's flagship peer-reviewed journal Annals of Internal Medicine.
Visit our dedicated page for more information about our resources.