Health Policy Workgroup

last updated 7.12.2024

SOHHA’s Health Policy (Communication) Workgroup

This workgroup was established in the summer of 2023 by founding board member Paul Magee.

Workgroup’s Mission:

This workgroup’s mission is to communicate about health policies that affect our work as clinicians and programs in the U.S. healthcare system setting. The workgroup has a focus on policy that affects patient access to care.

Works/Resources or Events in Progress in 2024-2025 from this Workgroup

In summer 2024, the SOHHA Health Policy Workgroup is creating short educational/informational pdfs with talking points about HR 3133 “Acupuncture for Our Seniors” for the audience of

1. healthcare system-based acupuncturist clinicians and

2. healthcare system admin/public affairs

These short educational publications aim to succinctly communicate what the federal bill is, how it improves patient access to care, how it helps overcome the current barriers and workarounds with Medicare reimbursement for services, and other federal programs it may affect.

(1) The info paper for LAc clinicians working in healthcare system settings helps them better communicate to their line of management about this and how it will affect their programs and current Medicare reimbursement issues.

(2) The paper for hospital administrators focuses on their perspective of this topic and gives them the succinct info and references they need when they are developing their own talking points on this and related topics for their organization.

These papers will soon be available as free PDF downloads on our website. This landing page will have info on the paper(s) when they are published and available for download, etc (button below):

SOHHA Health Policy Workgroup upcoming public events: August 2024

Participating in the Pain Collaborative to Advance Equitable Value-Based Solutions

In spring 2024, we (SOHHA) accepted the invitation to join the Pain Collaborative to Advance Equitable Value-Based Solutions, directed by Amy Goldstein. The Collaborative’s mission is to “expedite access to quality whole health care for individuals living with pain by fostering meaningful collaboration among diverse stakeholders and promoting innovative, equitable, and evidence-based solutions.” This is a collaborative of a variety of organizations and individuals across the U.S. The collaborative “are leaders, innovators, catalyzers for change, and subject matter experts who agree that deeper collaboration will expedite access to quality pain care.”