American College of Physicians: What Does a Better Health Care System Look Like?

NEW YORK, Jan. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The American College of Physicians (ACP) has issued a bold call to action, challenging the U.S. to implement a systematic reform of the health care system. Recently, practicing internist and President of the ACP, Robert M. McLean, MD, MACP and Robert B. Doherty, Senior Vice President of Governmental Affairs and Public Policy at ACP, teamed with YourUpdateTV to discuss how the U.S. can fix its ailing health care system.

A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://youtu.be/Yjiu3AQe2ls

In short, ACP believes that American health care costs too much, leaves too many behind without affordable coverage, doesn't incentivize patient interests, undervalues primary care, and creates barriers to care for vulnerable individuals.

In a series of interconnected and comprehensive policy papers ACP address issues related to coverage and cost of care, health care payment and delivery systems, and barriers to care and social determinants of health.

ACP's recommendations include transitioning to a system that achieves universal coverage through two potential approaches: a single payer financing system or a publicly-financed coverage option with regulated private insurance, both of which could allow spending on administration to be redirected to patient care.

Because coverage alone doesn't not guarantee access to good care, ACP also recommends reforming payment and delivery systems around patients' needs and addressing social and public health issues that undermine health.

For more information, visit acponline.org.

About Robert M. McLean, MD, MACP:
Robert M. McLean, MD, MACP, is President of the American College of Physicians (ACP). His one-year term began in April 2019. A resident of Woodbridge, Connecticut, Dr. McLean practices internal medicine and rheumatology in New Haven, Connecticut and is medical director with the Northeast Medical Group of Yale New Haven Health. He is an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at Yale School of Medicine and has served as an Attending Physician at Yale-New Haven Hospital since 1994.

About Robert B. Doherty:
Mr. Doherty is Senior Vice President of Governmental Affairs and Public Policy for the American College of Physicians (ACP), the largest physician specialty society and second largest medical organization in the United States. Mr. Doherty has more than 40 years of health policy experience and is the author of many of ACP's policy papers, including the Call to Action for a New Vision for American Health Care.

About the American College of Physicians:
The American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organization in the United States with members in more than 145 countries worldwide. ACP membership includes 159,000 internal medicine physicians (internists), related subspecialists, and medical students. Internal medicine physicians are specialists who apply scientific knowledge and clinical expertise to the diagnosis, treatment, and compassionate care of adults across the spectrum from health to complex illness. Follow ACP on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

About YourUpdateTV:
YourUpdateTV is a social media video portal for organizations to share their content, produced by award-winning video communications firm, D S Simon Media (http://www.dssimon.com). It includes separate channels for Health and Wellness, Lifestyle, Media and Entertainment, Money and Finance, Social Responsibility, Sports and Technology.

SOURCE YourUpdateTV