Invitation to Join

Letter from ACU President, Peter Sherman, MD

 Dear Colleague:

It is both a time of enormous hope and a time of great anxiety. We are facing an unprecedented crisis in health care — more than 47 million Americans lack health insurance and the number is rising as the economy falters. At the same time, the possibility of real health care reform seems nearer than ever in recent memory.

Even if everyone in the United States had health insurance, access to care would continue to be a huge problem. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) predicts a shortage of at least 100,000 physicians and 1 million nurses over the next several years and these shortages will be felt most acutely in primary care. 

The combination of an aging population and an aging workforce are two important factors, but a health care system that makes outpatient primary care financially untenable is also a driving force. With tuition at medical schools as high as $45,000 per year, few can afford to pursue a career as a primary care physician. How much longer must we accept one of the central axioms of health care, that the provision of outpatient primary care is not worthy of sustainable financing?

How many of you are given enough time to see your patients? How many of you are working with a sufficient number of registrars, nurses, nutritionists, mental health professionals, health educators, case managers and health promoters? We are all being asked to do more with less, causing increasing levels of stress and burn-out, leading to further deterioration in the health care of our patients.

We need a system that will provide quality care for all, especially those who are at the bottom of the economic ladder and face disparities in health care that are due to racism, language barriers, ethnocentricity, and sexism.

ACU is committed to being the voice of safety net providers and will focus on these core issues during 2009 – 2010:

• The need for universal access to health care
• The maintenance of a quality primary care workforce;
• The creation and implementation of healthcare information technology tools to meet the needs of our patients and our health care systems.

What can you do?

I cannot over emphasize the importance of your joining or continuing your membership in ACU. Every single member is another voice that sends the message that the needs of our patients are important and cannot be ignored. Spread the word and make sure your colleagues also join us in our fight.

Become involved in the process. Contribute your time and expertise. We need board members and committee members, just like you, to do the work needed to create a just health care system for every single American. To quote our president, “We are the change that we seek”

Sincerely,  

Peter Sherman, MD
President