2023 Legislative Priorities
- Workforce initiatives.
- The Academy will continue to explore ways to increase quality physician access to patients in Iowa through workforce programs like the Primary Care Rural Loan Repayment Program drafted by the IAFP in 2014. Fully funding these programs is critical to maintain a physician centered primary care workforce in Iowa. As such, IAFP supports:
- Increased funding for the Rural Primary Care Loan Repayment Program,
- Increased state funding for the Medical Residency Programs
- The Academy will continue to explore ways to increase quality physician access to patients in Iowa through workforce programs like the Primary Care Rural Loan Repayment Program drafted by the IAFP in 2014. Fully funding these programs is critical to maintain a physician centered primary care workforce in Iowa. As such, IAFP supports:
- Continued funding for psychiatric training at Des Moines University.
- Medical Liability Reform
- In Iowa, noneconomic damage awards from juries has climbed sharply. More than $63M has been awarded in noneconomic damages in just five cases. Noneconomic damages are defined as intangible harms like “severe pain, physician and emotional distress, loss of enjoyment”, etc. IAFP supports closing loopholes in the state’s cap on noneconomic damages.
- Capping noneconomic damages will reduce skyrocketing insurance premiums and benefit recruitment of physicians.
- Scope of practice protection.
- IAFP is opposed to legislation that would erode physician’s ability to practice within their full scope and put Iowa patients in harms way. To this end, IAFP is aware of the following perennial legislative initiatives:
- Pharmacy Statewide protocols. IAFP will monitor the legislation put forth to ensure patients care and the physician-patient relationship is not compromised.
- Direct entry midwives. The IAFP opposes direct entry midwives due to their lack of educational and medical training, and the impact this gap in education has on caring for their patients.
- Naturopathic physicians. The IAFP opposes the licensure and recognition of naturopathic physicians because of the manner in which this group practices (i.e. do not follow evidence-based practices).
- Primary Care Direct Spend
- Research continues to show that primary care is critical to the health of individuals, improves health outcomes, and is associated with a more equitable distribution of health in populations. Patients who identified a primary care physician as their usual source of care had lower five-year mortality rates than patients who identified a specialist physician as their usual source of care.
- Primary care spending lags in the United States compared to similar investment in most other high-income countries. Nations with greater investment in primary care reported better patient outcomes and lower health care costs.
- The IAFP will work with their payor partners or explore legislation to address the lack of investment in primary care focusing on the creation of state-level databases to quantify primary care investment and efforts to increase the level of investment.
Weekly Legislative Updates
We are pleased to bring you updates of the Iowa Legislature and report on issues that are important to family physicians put together by IAFP lobbyists, David Adelman and Sara Allen.