Dr. Donna Sullivan and Kate Alfano here, your co-interim-executive directors. Former executive Maria Medina, EdD, stepped down in August to pursue other opportunities. Rest assured we are working with the NCMS Board of Directors to ensure NCMS maintains its course with programming and initiatives through the annual meeting in January and are embarking on the search for a new executive director thoughtfully. We encourage you to contact us with any questions or thoughts.

We’re thankful to all of the physicians and Colorado Medical Society staff who joined NCMS for a fantastic Legislative Night on Thursday, and we’re especially thankful for our honored legislators – State Treasurer Dave Young, Sen. Rob Woodward, Rep. Perry Buck, Rep. Mary Young, Rep. Cathy Kipp and Rep. Jeni Arndt – for thoughtfully engaging physicians, listening and sharing their perspective on effective health care public policy.

Legislators were seated with their constituents to have these relevant small-group discussions, and moderator Dave Downs, MD, FACP, introduced the topics (health care costs and the state health insurance option), circulated the room to answer questions, and reflected on the table reports with the full group.

A detailed report will be shared with the membership and legislators in the future, but we wanted to share a quick summary in this newsletter. Regarding efforts to reduce health care costs, attendees discussed continuing to reduce administrative burden, increase transparency, address prescription drug costs, and reduce unnecessary emergency department utilization. Regarding the state health insurance option, attendees were supportive of the effort overall but questioned how the plan would incentivize primary care utilization, whether the plan would “travel” to other states, and if enactment would impose too much government oversight on the medical community, among other comments and questions.

Whether you were able to attend Legislative Night or not, there are many ways to get involved in advocacy:

• Adopt a legislator – build a relationship with a local elected official and communicate your willingness to be a resource when it comes to health care issues.
• Attend townhalls, legislative hearings, and political events – get informed on the issues.
• Call or write a legislator – respond to CMS/NCMS calls for action and demonstrate grassroots support or opposition for an issue with a phone call or email.
• Donate to COMPAC – support pro-physician candidates and aid CMS’ influence at the Capitol.
• Join the Council on Legislation – talk to your Northern Colorado Medical Society board or specialty society about representing them on COL and have direct involvement in CMS policy.
• Testify – be the voice of your peers at legislative hearings on crucial issues.

CMS is a great resource. Contact Emily Bishop at emily_bishop@cms.org with any questions about getting involved in advocacy.

We’ll send more information soon about the 2020 NCMS Annual Meeting. We hope to see you at an NCMS event soon!

Donna and Kate