Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we've replaced our annual Family Medicine Advocacy Summit with our first-ever remote "Week of Action," beginning Monday, June 1, to advocate for family medicine in Congress. How family medicine responds to the COVID-19 pandemic will shape primary care and our health care system for years to come, and it's crucial that Congress get it right by supporting you, your practice, and your patients. We encourage you to take as many actions as you can to raise family medicine's voice.
We need Congress to help put primary care on a sustainable path to ensure the health of our communities. Near-term financial stability will be the difference between being there for patients or practices closing. But the work won't stop there. The system must properly resource primary care to preserve the incredible strides that have been made in chronic-care management and prevention. In addition, this pandemic has identified the limits of a purely fee-for-service structure. Now we have the opportunity to design a better future for primary care. Stabilize. Strengthen. Sustain.
To learn more about our issues, view our resources here:
• Stabilize - near-term financial relief for family physicians: Video, Talking Points, Backgrounder
• Strengthen - appropriate investment in primary care: Video, Talking Points, Backgrounder
• Sustain - a viable pathway to the future: Video, Talking Points, Backgrounder
Set up a phone call or a meeting with your member of Congress or his or her staff to advocate for our asks. View our email for requesting a meeting and our tips on how to have a productive meeting with your legislator. If you get a meeting, don't forget to let us know how it went by filling out our form here.
Share your story in a 30-second video about the needs of primary care physicians on social media-. Make sure to tag @AAFP and your member of Congress. View our tips on taking a video, and look at examples from three AAFP leaders. Stabilize. Strengthen. Sustain.
Use your voice, your words, your Story. We've made it easy for you by providing pre-written letters to Congress, but we encourage you to make your letter your own. Take action on all three opportunities here:
• Tell Congress to reinstate the Advance Payment program - Speak Out!
• Tell your representative to ensure adequate resources to care for patients - Speak Out!
• Tell Congress to facilitate primary care innovation - Speak Out!
Let's get it trending. Use this hashtag to tweet at your member of Congress and view our tweet examples
#StabilizeStrengthenSustain
#SavePrimaryCare
All AAFP members are invited to join our Academy-wide town hall at 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 3, to engage with our special guests, Congressman Ami Bera, MD and Congressman Phil Roe, MD, on the challenges and opportunities facing family medicine.
We can help!
We want to make it as easy for you as possible. Need your legislator's information? Can't access the materials? No problem: email grassroots@....
We hope you will join us in taking action!
