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Family Medicine Goes to Washington
Representatives from the Family Medicine department were among 175 Family Medicine physicians, residents and medical students in Washington DC on May 11 and 12  making their voices heard. Jeff Borkan, MD, PhD, accompanied by Liz Brown, MD, and Jonathan Mendelsohn, MD – both first-year Family Medicine residents – participated in the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Congressional Conference.
Designed to educate and train family doctors on legislative priority issues and lobbying on Capitol Hill, the two-day conference included sessions on physician payment, the future of the primary care physician workforce and innovative programs in the new law health reform law. The MHRI contingent was then able to put what their new lobbying skills to use during face-to-face meetings with both Rhode Island Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed and their health policy staff.
The AAFP is an organization of 100,300 family physicians and medical students with programs in federal, state and grassroots advocacy as well as a research/policy arm called the Robert Graham Center.
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