On behalf of the board and staff of the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved (ACU), I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your support and wish you all the best as 2010 draws to a close and we welcome a New Year.

Please consider a tax deductible gift to ACU in your end-of-year charitable giving. Your gift of $50, $100 or $250 will make a big difference in our ability to advocate on behalf of the underserved and the clinicians who serve them. You can donate online using a secure server or mail your contribution to the address at the bottom of this letter. 

2010 was a year of intense advocacy on behalf of the underserved as ACU actively participated in the historic debate over health care reform. The Affordable Care Act was signed into law in March. Key Congressional leaders have pledged to repeal the law in 2011, so we have our work cut out for us.

We launched a new service for health care professionals this year: the ACU Career Center now offers you a new way to make employment connections online. Users can  search for positions, post their resumes or apply for a job free of charge. Employers benefit by having access to a qualified pool of job applicants. They can take advantage of a 15% discount* on new job postings through December 15.

Our quality of care initiatives focused on prescription access, improving health literacy, and chronic disease management. We released a new series of low literacy patient education handouts on diabetes and insulin use. Watch for Spanish language translations next year. We also pilot tested a program on health literacy, language access and cultural competency with the Loudon County (Va.) Community Health Center staff.

ACU's efforts to expand the workforce for the underserved now include a partnership with the National Center for Primary Care to conduct outreach to more than 7,500 National Health Service Corps (NHSC) clinicians. We may be calling on many of you to reach out to this valued cadre of professionals to share expertise, guidance, and support.

We have begun work on several new initiatives that you will hear more about in 2011, including work funded by the EPA on asthma trigger management, an initiative to combat obesity, a smoking cessation project, and continued work to bring the benefits of health IT to underserved communities.

None of this work would be possible without outside support. If you value our advocacy efforts on behalf of the underserved and the primary care workforce, please make a donation or mail your contribution to:

ACU
1420 Spring Hill Road, Suite 600
Tysons Corner, VA  22102

Thank you for all you do to support our mission to improve access to care and develop and support the healthcare workforce.

Sincerely,

Peter A. Sherman, M.D.
President