ACU-KP Scholarships

 

The first ever International Medical Volunteerism Conference was held at Emory University on Friday, April 16-Sunday, April 18, 2010.  ACU board member, Bonnie S. Hillsberg, DC, MHA, M.Ed, attended the meeting on behalf of ACU. 
 
Dr. Hillsberg presented at two sessions on Advocacy for the Health of the Uninsured and Underinsured Patients and What Can Educational Institution Leadership Do to Encourage Volunteerism.  She also participated in a televised roundtable on the Healthcare Reform Update: What does it mean for us, and what role can you play? with Georgia state Sen. Vincent Forte and four other speakers.
 
More than 500 people registered for the conference.  The opening remarks and key note presentations included Dr. Neil Shulman, Chairman of the Conference and author of the film Doc Hollywood starring Michael J. Fox, George Lundberg, MD, Editor in Chief for the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and eMedicine (WebMD) who provided a history and overview of medical volunteerism and Jim Withers, MD, pioneer of "Street Medicine" and founder of Operation Safety Net (an international organization of those who treat the homeless).  
 
ACU co-sponsored the conference and participated in the exhibit hall.  More than 25 people signed up for more ACU information and membership materials. For more information on the International Medical Volunteerism Conference, please check out http://emoryimvc.webs.com                    

Behavioral Health Parity in HIT

A new bill in Congress would expand federal health information technology (HIT) payments to previously ineligible community behavioral health providers and organizations. H.R. 5040, the Health Information Technology Extension for Behavioral Health Services Act of 2010, ensures that behavioral and mental health professionals, psychiatric hospitals and behavioral, mental health and substance abuse treatment facilities will be eligible for the electronic health record incentive payments established under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. ACU encourages members to contact your Representative  to request support for this important bill.

 
ACU weighed in on the Food and Drug Administration's Safe Use Initiative recently when Joshua Sharfstein, Principal Deputy Commissioner of the FDA, presented the initiative to the Institute of Medicine's Health Literacy Roundtable. The goal of the initiative is to create public and private collaborations among groups to identify specific, preventable medication risks and develop, implement and evaluate cross-sector interventions to reduce the preventable harm from these risks.

ACU representative Sharon Barrett encouraged Dr. Sharfstein to examine interventions that are population- and language-specific and take in consideration low literacy levels. She also articulated the need for inclusion of safety net clinicians as key stakeholders in implementing the initiative.

If you are interested in participating in an ACU coalition to address over-the-counter and prescription drug safety and labeling, please contact Sharon Barrett.