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WASHINGTON – Resolutions to end restrictions on abortion providers and to encourage discussion of gun safety predictably elicited significant debate during reference committee discussions at the American Academy of Family Physicians’ annual policy-making meeting.
The Reference Committee on Advocacy considered two abortion-related proposals submitted by the New York State chapter, both aimed at removing state-imposed restrictions on providers, such as requiring physicians who provide the services to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.
Alicia Ault/Frontline Medical News
Dr. Arnold Pallay
Currently, 27 states have laws that restrict abortion providers, said Dr. Cathleen London of Weill Cornell Physicians, N.Y., an author of the two resolutions. The statutes interfere with access to care, and do not add protections for patients, she said.
“Regardless of where you stand on this issue, making abortion difficult or illegal means that we’ll see abortions performed unsafely,” Dr. London said. “It will not stop them.”
Dr. Reid B. Blackwelder, AAFP president, urged the committee to forward the resolutions to the board of directors for study rather than vote on them directly. “We’d also like to note that the AAFP has adopted a neutral position on abortion,” said Dr. Blackwelder.
But Dr. Robert Reneker of Mercy Health in Grand Rapids, Mich., supported the organization’s neutral position. “To get mixed up in this debate on abortion, and to get off the fence, serves no purpose in furthering some of our other goals,” Dr. Reneker said.
A resolution introduced by the Michigan chapter urges the AAFP to be more outspoken on gun safety. Many delegates supported the resolution’s call for the academy to advocate for legislation that would call for safe gun storage in the home, while others objected to a provision that would allow health insurers in the Affordable Care Act’s health exchanges to collect data about guns in the home.
An opioid-related resolution from the New York State chapter urged the Food and Drug Administration to rescind approval of the long-acting hydrocodone formulation Zohydro. The drug has been viewed by many as highly abusable, but some palliative care and hospice specialists told the reference committee that it was a necessary therapy for their patients.
Delegates also vented about electronic health records. A late resolution introduced by Dr. Leonard Finn of Wellesley, Mass., laid out a wish list of improvements that he said AAFP should advocate, including interoperability.
EHRs “fail to help us do what we want to do – provide excellent care for our patients,” Dr. Finn told the Reference Committee on Practice Enhancement, adding, “No bank, no airline system would tolerate the quality of the software we have to work with.”
Dr. Cecil Bennett of Peachtree City, Ga., also expressed his frustration with current state of EHRs. “I don’t want to tweak the current system, I want to blow it up,” said Dr. Bennett.
The full Congress of Delegates will hear all of the resolutions and vote on them on Oct. 21 and Oct. 22.
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