When “Physicians Who Listen” Exercise Their Voices

Michael Cronin, ND

AANP President

Photo by rpongsaj via Flickr, used
under the Creative Commons License.

I invite you to add your voice to those of the many NDs and patients who will be attending the 2012 AANP DC Federal Legislative Initiative(DC FLI) on May 5-7, 2012. The DC FLI consists of two days of legislative/advocacy education and training, and, a third day, putting those skills to work on Capitol Hill advocating for our patients and for our profession.

The AANP uses the DC FLI to broaden understanding of federal law-making and federal agencies’ rule-making processes (for example, rules to include NDs in: medical homes, healthcare workforce provisions, patient-centered outcomes research (PCORI) and tuition forgiveness). Additionally, we will include discussion of the “Non-Discrimination” language in Section 2706 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Providers- A group health plan and a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage shall not discriminate with respect to participation under the plan or coverage against any health care provider who is acting within the scope of that provider's license or certification under applicable State law (includes ERISA plans).

Board Committees: Expanding the Bandwidth of the Board

 I am pleased to announce that the AANP Board has established three committees to improve its overall effectiveness. The full board of 13 members has limited time to meet and smaller committees enable the Board to discuss our profession’s changing landscape in greater detail and with better understanding of our options. Committees enable us to bring in new perspectives and diverse experiences from members of the AANP, state associations, and the House of Delegates.

The committees include: State and Federal Affairs, Scientific Affairs, and Public Education and Media Affairs.

The AANP State and Federal Affairs Committee is chaired by Lorilee Shoenbeck, ND, an energetic and experienced legislative advocate in Vermont who has demonstrated her effectiveness by securing Vermont citizens access to Naturopathic care with equivalent insurance coverage to MDs. The Vermont ANP has been working to ensure NDs will be eligible to be directors of Medical Homes on an equal status with other physician types.

The committee is composed of Lorilee Schoenbeck, Michael Traub, Kasra Pournadeali, Pamela Snider, Bruce Milliman, Carrie Runde, Jennifer Bahr, Bruce Milliman, Laura Farr and me. The committee is consulting with our two lobbyists, Deborah Senn and Rick Miller, as well as Terri Deerr (AANP COO) and Gene McGill (AANP, Director of State Government Relations).

The committee has already helped the Board prioritize the federal legislative objectives. The staff, with the input of the committee, is establishing the goals and specific legislative requests for the DC FLI. More detail on the DC FLI schedule will be forthcoming.

Finally, I would like to give recognition and a hearty congratulation to OncANP for its first conference in Carefree, Arizona attended by over 220. Well done!

Yours in health,

Michael Cronin, ND
AANP President