Leadership Day 2006

MEMORANDUM

Last Wednesday the President signed the deficit reduction act, reversing the 4.4 percent reduction in Medicare physician payments that went into effect January 1. While this action falls short of what ACP worked to achieve, it is a significant victory in the context of the current budgetary environment. Your visits during Leadership Day last year and subsequent local meetings and other communications to Congress contributed to this positive outcome. Unfortunately, the reversal of the cut is for one year only and substantial reductions are anticipated in 2007 and beyond unless Congress acts again.

Last year we increased participation in Leadership Day by 50 percent, attracting over 260 participants (including 61 associates and 19 medical students) from 42 states and the District of Columbia. The payoff for building ACP's advocacy network has been enormous. Together we have stopped multi-year cuts in Medicare reimbursement and helped shape the deliberations in Congress on how to improve healthcare quality by aligning payment policy with incentives to improve the health of our patients.

This year, Leadership Day participants will be advocating for a new way to finance and deliver primary care that includes fundamental reforms in Medicare physician payment and financial incentives for physicians to participate in quality improvement programs. We hope to build on the enthusiastic response from the membership, members of Congress and the administration by adding the ideas presented in ACP recent report "The Impending Collapse of Primary Care Medicine and Its Implications for the State of the Nation's Health Care".

We ask your help in reaching the College's goal of having each chapter represented at Leadership Day. To save time, we encourage you to register for Leadership Day online. Governors can fill out the registration form for all of the chapter's participants or forward the form to the individuals being asked to participate. If you prefer to fax the registration form, send it to the attention of Shuan Tomlinson at FAX # 202-835-0442.

For the first time this year, we are offering a special briefing for associates and medical students whose participation in Leadership Day is growing and adding a valuable perspective to ACP's advocacy on Capitol Hill. The two-hour briefing and "happy hour" reception for associates and medical students will be held on Monday, May 15 starting at 4:00 PM at the Wyndham Washington, D.C. Hotel.

For the third year, we continue to offer an optional half-day of training on the morning of Tuesday, May 16 beginning promptly at 8:45AM to help our first-timers get a jump start on their participation in Leadership Day. Everyone is welcome to start early with consecutive workshops in media relations and grassroots advocacy on day-one. The training will be interactive, lively and well worth the extra time commitment, especially for those who are new to Leadership Day or who want to pick up some new ideas to use while you are here and to take home with you. For those attending the pre-course for first-timers, registration will be open on Monday evening between 5:00 - 7:00 PM and again Tuesday morning at 8:00 AM. A light lunch will be available for all participants during registration between 12:15 and 12:45 PM on Tuesday.

The regular program will begin Tuesday, May 16 at 12:45 PM with in-depth briefings on the issues and presentations by Hill and administration representatives. You will hear from Washington insiders who will assess the current political environment and its impact on ACP issues. The program also includes speeches by key members of Congress and a keynote dinner address by Roll Call columnist and pundit Stuart Rothenberg who will give us a glimpse into the mid-term elections and how health care issues might play out. We will also be presenting our "Key Contact of the Year Award" during the dinner on May 16. The Joseph F. Boyle Award for Distinguished Public Service will be awarded this year to former Governor Mark R. Warner of Virginia. Continuing education credits will be offered again this year.

As we did last year, we will start our Hill day, Wednesday, May 17, with breakfast and speeches from elected officials in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill. This room will serve as our hospitality/debriefing location until we move one flight up to the Gold Room after lunch. As in the past, the program is planned to maximize the time available to spend with your members of Congress. Box lunches will be provided in the hospitality room on Capitol Hill so that lunchtime is flexible and more time can be spent on Hill visits.

This year's Leadership Day is being sponsored by ACP Services, Incorporated (ACP Services, Inc), a separate membership organization that was formed to advocate for the interests of internist-members and their patients. ACP Services is not subject to tax code restrictions on lobbying and political activities that apply to organizations, like the ACP itself, that are designated as charitable organizations under the U.S. tax code. All ACP members are members (automatically) of ACP Services so they can participate fully in activities, like Leadership Day, sponsored by ACP Services.

Now is the time to put your delegations together, make hotel and airline reservations, and set up appointments to meet with members of Congress. Please note that Leadership Day will be held this year at the Wyndham Washington, DC Hotel in downtown Washington. (LAST YEAR OUR MEETING WAS HELD AT THE WYNDHAM CITY CENTER HOTEL, ALSO IN DOWNTOWN WASHINGTON. THE HOTEL FOR THIS YEAR IS LOCATED AT 1400 M STREET (M STREET, NW BETWEEN 14TH AND 15TH STREETS). To take advantage of free long distance and high-speed internet, enroll in the "Wyndham by Request" program. Because we have grown significantly in the past few years, there are no hotels within walking distance of Capitol Hill that are large enough to accommodate us.

Selecting Your Chapter's Delegation -

We encourage all ACP Chapters to participate and to increase the number of participants over the last year. Please review the attached target list of Members of Congress from your state who serve on key health committees or in leadership positions. Whenever possible, include a constituent of these individuals in your ACP delegation. Please view http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/congress.html# if you are uncertain about the boundaries for your state's congressional districts.*

Those you might consider for your delegation include: Governors, Governors-Elect, Regents, Health and Public Policy Chairs, Key Contacts, Federal Legislative Coordinators, and Associate and Student Members. (For a list of Key Contacts from your state that have been particularly engaged in the legislative process, please contact Tracy Novak, Associate for Grassroots Advocacy and PAC Administrator at 1-800-338-2746, Ext. 4532 or by E-mail at tnovak@.acponline.org). There is no funding available from ACP to subsidize the costs of sending your representatives.

Hotel/Flight Reservations -

Hotel reservations should be made immediately (use enclosed form). The ACP block of rooms will be released on Monday, April 24. Since demand may exceed supply, make your reservations early to avoid having to stay at an off-site hotel. The Wyndham Washington, DC Hotel is located at 1400 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005, 202-429-1700 or 800-996-3426. You may find substantial savings with flights into the Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI). While the trip from BWI to downtown Washington is longer than the trip from Ronald Reagan National Airport, limousine service is available. BWI is only a few miles farther from downtown than Dulles Airport. During weekday travel, MARC trains make frequent trips from the BWI airport to Washington's Union Station (one-way ticket is $6). A free shuttle is available for the 5-minute ride from the BWI Airport, baggage claim level to the BWI rail station. Go to http://www.mtamaryland.com/services/marc/schedulesSystemMaps/penn.cfm for more information and the MARC Penn Line train schedule.

Arranging Your Chapter's Hill Visits for May 17 -

Phone lists for the Senate and U.S. House of Representatives are attached (pocketsize directories are being printed and will be mailed to you as soon as they are available) for you to call your representatives schedulers for appointments. When your meeting appointments are made please fill out and fax back the enclosed form titled "Appointments Arranged Form." Having this information in advance will give the governmental affairs staff the information they need to tailor their advice to you for your individual meetings.

When you are making your appointments, you are encouraged to ask the legislators' staff if the senator or representative has a particular health bill he or she is sponsoring or if there is a health issue they would like to discuss. You may want to visit the legislator's web site as an easy way to see what issues are of concern to them. In the Senate, the address is www.senate.gov. In the House, it is www.house.gov.

The exact content of issues will be shaped by the flow of congressional activity between now and mid-May when our visits will occur. In addition to Medicare physician payment reform, we will be discussing several other crucial issues related to improving healthcare quality and enhancing the physician-patient relationship.

Background Materials to Follow -

In early May, you will receive briefing materials that will include background information on the issues and fact sheets to leave behind after your meetings, and general tips for planning your meetings. The Washington staff is available to you for any assistance you may need in preparing for and conducting your meetings. Pocketsize Congressional directories for the 109th Congress will be mailed to everyone who registers in addition to the briefing book.

If you have questions about registration or meeting logistics, please contact Shuan Tomlinson, State Health Policy Coordinator, at 1-800-338-2746, Ext. 4547 or by email stomlinson@acponline.org. For other information about Leadership Day, please contact Tracy Novak, Associate for Grassroots Advocacy and PAC Administrator at 1-800-338-2746, Ext. 4532 or by e-mail tnovak@acponline.org.

Chapter participation in Leadership Day and the key contact program is the bedrock of ACP's advocacy program. Thank you for your chapter's support.

Attachments:

Senate Phone List

* Click the following link to access your state's congressional district maps, http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/congress.html#. Once in the site, scroll down the page to "Printable Map List: Congressional Districts - 109th Congress" and click on the abbreviated state link. The maps identify major towns and cities in the districts so that you can easily identify an ACP member who is a constituent of a key congressional decision maker.