Two members of the University of Louisville Division of General Internal Medicine, Palliative Medicine and Medical Education traveled to Washington, D.C. May 21-22 to represent the Kentucky Chapter of the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM) at the organization's annual Leadership Day program.

Barbara Casper, M.D., FACP, division chief and director of the U of L Internal Medicine Residency Program was joined by Chief Medical Resident Clayton Smith, M.D., on the trip to the nation's capital.

“Clay Smith and I were privileged to represent the ACP and AAIM in Washington," Casper said. "We had the opportunity to meet with several members of Congress and their assistants to discuss issues surrounding the delivery of health care as well as residency training. We are hopeful that there may be some bipartisan movement on several of the issues that we presented."

The ACP had four key "asks" of the 113th Congress:

• Eliminating Medicare's Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula and transitioning to new value-based payment models.

• Replacing sequestration cuts and preventing future disruptions in funding for critical health care.

• Enacting fiscally- and socially- responsible alternatives to reduce unnecessary health care spending.

• Enacting meaningful medical liability reforms, including piloting testing of health courts.

"I appreciated the chance to tell our elected officials about how their decisions affect what we do at the University," Smith said. "I would encourage others who are interested in changing the system to take the time to learn about and participate in this advocacy program."

With 133,000 members, ACP is the largest medical specialty organization and second-largest physician group in the United States with a mission to enhance the quality and effectiveness of health care by fostering excellence and professionalism in the science and practice of medicine.