March 21, 2007

1. The NPA Reaches New Heights! 2nd Annual Meeting Summary and Photo Gallery

More than 100 physicians gathered in Crystal City, near Washington, D.C. March 10-12th at NPA's 2nd Annual Meeting. With anywhere from a few months of internship to several decades of practice under their belts, your friends and colleagues traveled from all over the United States to speak out for health care justice.

This inspirational meeting was fueled by exciting presentations by some of our nation's top health care advocates. Dr. David Hilfiker spoke on his life of medical practice among the urban impoverished; Dr. Rudy Mueller educated us on the magnitude and cost of the health care crisis; and Dr. Peter Beilenson explored the politics of universal health care as encountered through his work as former Baltimore City Health Commissioner. Through a legal lens, Victoria Powell brought lessons from other life-and-death professions to help reshape malpractice reform. Dr. Susan Louisa Montauk, from the National Health Care for the Homeless Council and Jean Hochron, M.P.H. from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, shared their expertise on the challenges and successes of the Health Care for the Homeless programs.

The NPA was honored to be joined by many members of the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) and to have been invited to their special keynote presentation by Dr. Paul Farmer, Founding Director of Partners in Health. Attendees also crowded in by the hundreds for a keynote session by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, co-sponsored by AMSA. Dr. Gupta shared stories from his travels around the world with CNN, demonstrating the shocking public health conditions both within our own borders and around the world. His stories brought to life the power of the media and the medical profession in combating such tragedy.

Highlighted in our programming were sessions on the Prescription Project, a call to medical professionals to end conflicts of interest resulting from pharmaceutical marketing. Susan Chimonas, Ph.D. and David Rothman, Ph.D. from the Institute on Medicine as a Profession were joined by Sheila Rothman, Ph.D. from Columbia University's School of Public Health and Marcia Hams, the project's manager to engage NPA in developing public policy strategies to ensure affordable patient care and physician privacy.

This year's NPA meeting also marked the launch of the Council of Consumers, a cross-disciplinary body of consumer and patient representatives established to ensure that patients always remain central in the NPA's advocacy work. Distinguished presenters included Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA, Gene Copello, Executive Director of The AIDS Institute, and Marcia Hams of Community Catalyst.

Meeting-goers enjoyed special skills sessions on mentoring, safer sign-out procedures, and utilizing on-line technologies to strengthen the community of progressive health care professionals.

The NPA was proud to offer relevant, educational, and action-oriented programming for every physician interested in advancing the core goals of our profession and improving the lives of those we serve.

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO GALLERY OF THE 2007 ANNUAL MEETING

Be a part of the action. Attend a local or regional NPA event, and plan early to join us at the 3rd Annual Meeting, March 14th-17th, 2008!

*The NPA wishes to thank the Doctors Licensure Group for its Gold Level Sponsorship of the 2007 National Conference.*

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2. NPA Press Conference

On Saturday, March 10th, NPA and AMSA jointly hosted a press conference on the global health workforce featuring Dr. Paul Farmer of Partners in Health. The press conference highlighted the groups' concerns over the need for increased Congressional funding to overcome the critical shortage of health workers in Africa. They also addressed the ever-growing public health crisis in sub-Saharan Africa, a region devastated by AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

Paul Farmer was joined by AMSA president, Jay Bhatt and AMSA Global AIDS Fellow, Laura Frye as well as NPA's incoming Policy Committee co-Chair, Jen Cohn. The event was attended by members of the AMSA global health group and NPA's policy committee who engaged in a fascinating question-and-answer session with the panel.

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3. NPA Lobby Day

On Monday, March 12th, about 30 NPA members gathered at the Capitol to lobby Congress on several key issues. NPA visited members from both the House and Senate to discuss issues ranging from the reauthorization of the State Childrens' Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to the African Health Capacity Investment Act of 2007.

The lobby day was a huge success. We were able to introduce ourselves to many members of Congress and made impressive headway on key issues. Our visits resulted in commitments to move a House companion bill to the African Health Capacity Investment Act; interest in our input on a no-fault medical malpractice system; and plans to contact us for infomation on issues of the impact of pharmaceutical marketing strategies on patient safety.

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4. NPA in the News

On March 17, the Journal News recognized the National Physicians Alliance for fighting to disrupt the "traditionally cozy relationship between doctors and drugmakers." Read full article here. Earlier this month, Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) also recognized the NPA's support for the Health Partnership Act--an act aimed at expanding affordable health care coverage. Read the Senator's piece here .

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5. Policy Corner: Sale of Physician Prescribing Data
The NPA continues to work toward a ban on the sale of physician prescribing data for commercial purposes. Read our issue brief here for more background and please SIGN OUR PETITION in support of this effort to protect physician prescribing privacy.

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6. We have a Blog!

We are proud to present the official blog of the National Physicians Alliance. Our multi-author blog is committed to facilitating productive discussion among physicians and the public. Login and share your thoughts. Remember, the views expressed on the NPA blog are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organization.