Every April, the ACS gathers hundreds of surgeons in Washington, DC, for our Leadership & Advocacy Summit. This conference helps surgeons learn how to advocate for legislative and regulatory changes on federal and state levels. Following the summit, groups of surgeons of all specialties attend in-person meetings with Members of Congress and their staff on Capitol Hill to speak about issues critical to our practices and our patients.
Through their engagement, we continue the work begun 50 years ago. In 1974, the ACS established the Department of Surgical Practice in response to legal changes to Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurance that affected surgeons. With a Chicago-based team and a “listening post” in Washington, DC, this department strove to give voice to surgeons’ perspectives on healthcare payment and practice regulations, often via outreach to elected officials and Congressional testimony.
We have pursued advocacy aggressively ever since. The Department of Surgical Practice evolved into the Socioeconomic Affairs Department in 1985, with a strong focus on representing surgeons' interests on Medicaid and Medicare payment changes. At the turn of the millennium, the ACS organized the current Division of Advocacy and Health Policy, which spearheads a portfolio of legislative and regulatory advocacy efforts. Recognizing a political action committee would enhance our effectiveness on Capitol Hill, the ACS established a free-standing organization, the ACS Professional Association (ACSPA), in 2002. It engages in legislative and regulatory changes today as ACSPA-SurgeonsPAC.
All advocates now face an unusual environment; Congress passed fewer than 30 laws in 2023, a relatively low number. Nonetheless, our advocacy efforts have borne fruit consistently, including in the past year. Here are results of some of our recent actions.
2018
In February 2018, Congress passed MISSION ZERO legislation, which enables collaborations between military and civilian trauma surgeons to ensure troop readiness and advance trauma care quality. The legislation stemmed from a June 2016 National Academy of Medicine report on national trauma care system development that the ACS co-sponsored.
2019
In May 2019, the ACS led a Congressional briefing called “How to Protect Patients from Surprise Medical Bills: The Physicians’ Perspective.” It was part of our multiyear effort to improve the No Surprises Act, which regulates billing for out-of-network medical expenses. That Act was eventually signed into law as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021; it took effect January 1, 2022.
In August 2019, the President signed the Emergency Medical Services for Children Reauthorization bill into law. For the ACS, it was the culmination of years of advocating for reauthorization of Emergency Medical Services for Children, the only federal program dedicated to improving pediatric emergency care. The program has led to landmark improvements in care quality nationwide. The ACS is currently supporting reauthorization of this critical law (H.R. 6960 and S. 3765).
2020
In March 2020, our advocates celebrated their successful contribution to the passage of the Removing Barriers to Colorectal Cancer Screening Act as part of the Omnibus Appropriations and Emergency Coronavirus Relief Act. This law prevents billing for polyp removal during colonoscopies covered by insurance as preventive care.
The ACS has advocated for many years against Medicare payment reductions, and in December 2020, this resulted in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 including a 3.75% Medicare payment adjustment to offset conversion factor reductions for 2021.
In the same Act, our advocacy efforts helped ensure inclusion of funding for 1,000 more graduate medical education residency seats. This increase will help ease physician shortages affecting surgery and other specialties.
2021
In January 2021, the ACS saw success in its work pressing for the repeal of the McCarran-Ferguson antitrust exemption for health insurance companies, via the passage of the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act. The repeal prevents harmful anticompetitive conduct in health insurance markets.
Also, 2021 was the first of 3 consecutive years of ACS advocacy helping to deliver federal firearm research funding to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
2022
FY2022 was the first year that appropriations were made to fund MISSION ZERO. (Appropriations were also made in FY2023 and are pending for FY2024.)
2023
In 2023, the ACS helped advocate successfully for Congress to increase funding in FY2023 over FY2022 for the NIH (5.6%), National Cancer Institute (5.9%), and CDC (increases to every cancer program).
In addition, the ACS helped ensure extended funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), as well as continuous eligibility for children under Medicaid and CHIP. The FY2023 omnibus extended CHIP funding through 2029 and provides 1 year of continuous eligibility for children under Medicaid and CHIP, effective January 1, 2024.
2024
Our work continued. In 2022, the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act became law, improving mental health care access for clinicians. As part of our work on surgeons’ well-being, the ACS is currently supporting legislation (H.R. 7153/S. 3679) to reauthorize this law.
In addition, Congress passed government funding that included language mitigating cuts in Medicare physician payment. This occurred in part because more than 700 ACS members contacted their elected officials to press for this change. We will continue to vigorously advance novel and creative proposals that address overall Medicare payment reform.
Engage with ACS Advocacy
Please join us in this work. I invite all US-based surgeons to engage with us about laws and regulations important to our careers and patient outcomes. Please visit SurgeonsVoice, our advocacy center, to learn more and take action.
