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Team-based care models such as the Patient-Centered Medical Home are associated with improved patient health outcomes, better team coordination and collaboration, and increased well-being among health care professionals. Yet, hindrances to wider adoption remain. In this paper, the American College of Physicians reaffirms the importance of the physician-led health care team and offers policy recommendations on professionalism, payment models, training, licensure, and research to support the expansion of dynamic clinical care teams. Team-based care models such as the Patient-Centered Medical Home are associated with improved patient health outcomes, better team coordination and collaboration, and increased well-being among health care professionals. Despite these attributes, hindrances to wider adoption remain. In addition, some health care professionals have sought to practice independent of the physician-led health care team, potentially undermining patient access to physicians who have the skills and training to deliver whole-person, comprehensive, and longitudinal care. In this paper, the American College of Physicians reaffirms the importance of the physician-led health care team and offers policy recommendations on professionalism, payment models, training, licensure, and research to support the expansion of dynamic clinical care teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many eligible voters in the United States are not registered to vote, many registered voters do not vote, and physicians vote less often than the average citizen. This article describes the connection between voting and health, identifies some barriers to voting, and makes policy recommendations to support safe and accessible voting. During the past 2 decades, voter turnout in U.S. presidential elections has ranged from 51.7% to 66.9% of the eligible population. Low voter turnout rates and inequitable electoral institutions, such as gerrymandered districts, can skew policy decisions toward the preferences of a smaller group and further exclude individuals and communities who have been historically marginalized and excluded from decision-making processes. Voting and health are directly connected through the institution of policies by ballot initiative and the election of officials who incorporate health into their platforms. They are also indirectly connected, as civic participation connects persons to their community and empowers them with agency in decision making. In this position paper, the American College of Physicians seeks to inform physicians, medical students, and other health care professionals on the links between electoral processes and health; encourage civic participation; and offer policy recommendations to support safe and equitable access to electoral participation to advance health equity for both patients and health care professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic revealed significant gaps in the United States' pandemic and public health emergency response system. In this position paper, the American College of Physicians (ACP) offers several policy recommendations for enhancing federal, state, and local preparedness for future pandemics and public health emergencies. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic revealed significant gaps in the United States' pandemic and public health emergency response system. At the federal level, government responses were undercut by a lack of centralized coordination, inadequately defined responsibilities, and an under-resourced national stockpile. Contradictory and unclear guidance throughout the early months of the pandemic, along with inconsistent funding to public health agencies, also created notable variance in state and local responses. The lack of a coordinated response added pressure to an already overwhelmed health care system, which was forced to resort to rationing care and personal protective equipment, creating moral distress and trauma for health care workers and their patients. Despite these severe shortcomings, the COVID-19 pandemic also highlighted successful policies and approaches, such as Operation Warp Speed, which led to the fastest development and distribution of a vaccine in history. In this position paper, the American College of Physicians (ACP) offers several policy recommendations for enhancing federal, state, and local preparedness for future pandemic and public health emergencies. This policy paper builds on various statements produced by ACP throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, including on the ethical distribution of vaccinations and resources, conditions to resume economic and social activity, and efforts to protect the health and well-being of medical professionals, among others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States' public health sector plays a crucial role in preventing illness and promoting health. However, public health is underfunded and underappreciated, forcing the field to do more with fewer resources. In this position paper, the American College of Physicians updates its 2012 policy recommendations on strengthening the nation's public health infrastructure. The United States' public health sector plays a crucial role in preventing illness and promoting health. Public health drove massive gains in life expectancy during the 20th century by supporting vaccination campaigns, promoting motor vehicle safety, and preventing and treating tobacco use. However, public health is underfunded and underappreciated, forcing the field to do more with fewer resources. In this position paper, the American College of Physicians (ACP) updates its 2012 policy recommendations on strengthening the nation's public health infrastructure. ACP calls for effective coordination of public health activities, robust and stable year-to-year funding of public health services, a renewed and well-supported public health workforce, action to address health-related dis- and misinformation, modernized public health data systems, and greater coordination between public health and medical sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The American College of Physicians (ACP) has a long-standing commitment to improving the health of all Americans and opposes any form of discrimination in the delivery of health care services. ACP is committed to working toward fully understanding and supporting the unique needs of the incarcerated population and eliminating health disparities for these persons. In this position paper, ACP offers recommendations to policymakers and administrators to improve the health and well-being of persons incarcerated in adult correctional facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous peoples in the United States experience many health disparities and barriers to accessing health care services. In addition, Indigenous communities experience poor social drivers of health, including disproportionately high rates of food insecurity, violence, and poverty, among others. These challenges are unsurprising, given historical societal discrimination toward Indigenous peoples and government policies of violence, forced relocation with loss of ancestral home, and erasure of cultures and traditions. Indigenous peoples have displayed resilience that has sustained their communities through these hardships. Through treaties between the federal government and Indigenous nations, the federal government has assumed a trust responsibility to provide for the health and well-being of Indigenous populations through the direct provision of health care services and financial support of tribally operated health systems. However, despite serving a population that has endured substantial historical trauma and subsequent health issues, federal programs serving Indigenous peoples receive inadequate federal funding and substantially fewer resources compared with other federal health care programs. Access to care is further challenged by geographic isolation and health care workforce vacancies. Given the history of Indigenous peoples in the United States and their treatment by the federal government and society, the American College of Physicians (ACP) asserts the federal government must faithfully execute its trust responsibility through increased funding and resources directed toward Indigenous communities and the undertaking of concerted policy efforts to support the health and well-being of Indigenous people. ACP believes that these efforts must be community-driven, Indigenous-led, and culturally appropriate and accepted, and center values of respect and self-determination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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After the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization , some state governments have imposed stringent restrictions on abortion, whereas others have sought to protect access. In this policy brief, the American College of Physicians updates its previous positions to reflect this new reality and offers recommendations to promote equitable access to reproductive health care services and safeguard maternal health. The legal landscape around access to reproductive health care services was substantially altered after the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization. In the aftermath of the decision, some state governments have begun to impose stringent restrictions and complete bans on the provision of abortion, whereas others have sought to protect and expand access. Some have gone as far as imposing criminal and civil penalties on physicians and other clinicians who provide evidence-based, clinically indicated reproductive health care services and information that is guided by biomedical ethics and provided in the best interest of the patient's health and well-being. In several states, lawmakers have attempted and successfully used new approaches to enforcing and achieving these prohibitions, including prohibitions on crossing state lines to obtain abortion care, prohibitions on the mailing of medication abortion, and the authorization of third-party civil lawsuits. In this policy brief, the American College of Physicians (ACP) updates and expands on its previous public policy positions on abortion from its 2018 policy paper, "Women's Health Policy in the United States," to reflect this new reality. The College also offers policymakers and payers recommendations to promote equitable access to reproductive health care services and safeguard maternal health. ACP reaffirms its opposition to undue and unnecessary governmental interference in the patient–physician relationship that criminalizes the provision of health care made in the physician's clinical judgment and based on clinical evidence and the standard of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We apply the high-reliability organization (HRO) paradigm to the diagnostic process, outlining challenges to enacting HRO principles in diagnosis and offering solutions for how diagnostic process stakeholders can overcome these barriers. Background: Evidence shows that healthcare is starting to organize for higher reliability by employing various principles and practices of HRO. These hold promise for enhancing safer care, but there has been little consideration of the challenges that clinicians and healthcare systems face while enacting HRO principles in the diagnostic process. To effectively deploy the HRO perspective, these barriers must be seriously considered. Method: We review key principles of the HRO paradigm, the diagnostic errors and harms that potentially can be prevented by its enactment, the challenges that clinicians and healthcare systems face in executing various principles and practices, and possible solutions that clinicians and organizational leaders can take to overcome these challenges and barriers. Results: Our analyses reveal multiple challenges including the inherent diagnostic uncertainty; the lack of diagnosis-focused performance feedback; the fact that diagnosis is often a solo, rather than team, activity; the tendency to simplify the diagnostic process; and professional and institutional status hierarchies. But these challenges are not insurmountable—there are strategies and solutions available to overcome them. Conclusion: The HRO lens offers some important ideas for how the safety of the diagnostic process can be improved. Application: The ideas proposed here can be enacted by both individual clinicians and healthcare leaders; both are necessary for making systematic progress in enhancing diagnostic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental health refers to the health effects associated with environmental factors, such as air pollution, water contamination, and climate change. Environmental hazards are associated with poor outcomes in common diseases, including diabetes and heart disease. In this position paper, the American College of Physicians (ACP) seeks to inform physicians about environmental health and offers policymakers recommendations to reduce the adverse health consequences of climate change, improve air and water quality, reduce exposure to toxic substances, and address environmental injustice. ACP affirms that all communities, including people of color, people with low income, and marginalized populations, deserve to live in a healthy environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]