Advocacy Successes
Physician Advocacy Successes
Good health policy is made with physicians in the discussion.
MSDC, working with its members, partners, and other organizations, has won major policy victories to help its members practice medicine. Below is a sampling of those victories. Do you want to be a vital part of the next policy victory helping improve the health of the District? Contact us today.
Opioid Policy
- MSDC was added to the opioid fund oversight panel by the Council in its legislation authorizing the oversight body
Scope of Practice
- MSDC supported legislation to ban the sale of flavored electronic smoking devices and restrict the sale of electronic smoking devices.
- Working with a coalition, MSDC added funding to the DC budget to support the hiring of more license specialists to help with the delay in processing medical licenses.
Women's Health
- B24-143, to regulate certified midwives, passed the Council with MSDC's support
Health Equity
- Mayor Muriel Bowser signs into law the Electronic Medical Order for Scope of Treatment Registry Amendment Act of 2019. The eMOST Registry Amendment Act permits the creation of an electronic database of advanced directive wishes for District residents that can be tied into the health information exchange.
- Mayor Bowser signs into law the School Sunscreen Safety Temporary Amendment Act of 2019. The bill permits students to bring and apply sunscreen during the 2019-2020 school year.
- MSDC comments on the importance of funding United Medical Center (UMC) and health facilities in Wards 7 and 8 in the mayor's budget. Those comments are used almost verbatim in CM Trayon White's comments advocating for funding of United Medical Center.
Scope of Practice
- DC Health publishes draft regulations removing the 3 mandatory CME hours for HIV/AIDS awareness and replaces them with a requirement to fulfill 10% of mandatory CME hours with a topic from a public health priority list. DC Health then waived the requirement for 2020.
- The Strengthening Reproductive Health Protections Act of 2020 is signed into law with MSDC support. The bill prohibits government interference in reproductive decisions between a patient and doctor, and prohibits employers from penalizing physicians for practicing reproductive medicine outside of their work hours.
- The Mayor's Commission on Healthcare Systems Transformation releases its final recommendations. One recommendation is for the District to explore options to make providing health care more affordable, including financial relief for higher malpractice insurance rates.
- The Council removes "telephone" from the list of prohibited types of telemedicine to allow physicians and other providers to be reimbursed for telephone telemedicine appointments after MSDC and health community advocacy.
- MSDC worked with the Council to modify onerous language in the Health Care Reporting Amendment Act that potentially would have penalized physicians from seeking help for substance abuse or addiction issues.
Opioid/Drug Policy
- The Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF) waives prior authorization for key medication assisted treatments (MAT) treating substance use disorder patients in Medicaid.
- The Mayor signed into law The Access to Biosimilars Amendment Act of 2019, a top MSDC priority as it would help prescribers to prescribe more cost-effective drugs for patients.
Behavioral Health
- The Behavioral Health Parity Act of 2017, a major priority for MSDC and DCPA, officially becomes law. The legislation requires all health benefit plans offered by an insurance carrier to meet the federal requirements of the Wellstone/Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.
Health Equity
- The District Council passes B22-1001, The Health Insurance Marketplace Improvement Amendment Act of 2018. The bill prohibits the sale of Short Term, Limited Duration health plans and Association Health Plans (AHPs) in the DC Health Benefits Exchange.
Scope of Practice
- DC joins 28 other states in the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact with B22-177 becoming law. The IMLC is designed to ease physician licensure in multiple states.
Women's Health
- The Maternal Mortality Review Committee is established by law. The Committee is responsible for finding solutions to maternal health crisis in the District. District physicians are an important part of this vital committee.
- B22-106, The Defending Access to Women's Health Care Services Amendment Act, becomes law. The act requires insurers to cover health care services like breast cancer screening and STI screenings without cost-sharing.
Opioid Policy
- Right before the Council adjourned for the session, it passed B21-32, the Specialty Drug Copayment Limitation Act. The bill limits cost shifting by payers for prescription drugs.
Behavioral Health
- B21-0007 passes the Council. The Behavioral Health Coordination of Care Amendment Act of 2016 permitted the disclosing of mental health information between a mental health facility and the health professional caring for the patient.
Women's Health
- MSDC was proud to have worked on B21-20. The law requires payers to cover up to 12 months of prescription contraception, advancing women's health and equality.
Super Sleuth Dr. Tu
Dr. Raymond Tu (L) and MSDC 2022 President Dr. Kirtsy Nevin (R) at 2022 Capital Healthcare Honors
Like a detective, as a child, Dr. Raymond Tu would comb through the Highlights magazine and head straight for the hidden-object puzzle pages asking readers to find specific hidden objects. “I was always very good at finding things and identifying patterns. We are all born with the same eyes, but the way information travels to our brains and the messages that are sent are different for everyone. I happen to have a skill for visual perception,” he said. His friends joke that it’s best to bring him along whenever they buy a new car since he can spot any dents or flaws.
Dr. Tu always wanted to pursue a career in medicine and was drawn to neuroradiology because it required him to apply his keen sense of observation. For him, the beauty of medicine and the human body is the mysteries it presents. “There are no limits to the problems and variety of problems that the human body can exhibit,” he said. In his field, he adheres to a strict patient examination pattern. “Examining patients must be done methodically, if not, doctors risk missing something. There is a pattern to radiology. It’s time to troubleshoot when something doesn’t fit the pattern.”
During his career, Dr. Tu has grown into a successful leader and today is the Chief Medical Officer of MedStar Family Choice in D.C. In this role, his team manages over 70,000 District Medicaid Enrollees. “I am passionate about making sure that the underserved have access to healthcare,” he said.
He is also a lecturer and offers insights to early-career physicians on the topics of transactional and relational personalities. “Physicians are taught how to be transactional. They conduct their examinations like going to a grocery store, they begin at the top of their list and work their way through it,” he said. Relational skills are harder to develop. “Relational personalities are successful at bringing people together. These are people who can walk into a room and find a commonality with the room’s occupants,” he said.
Dr. Tu enjoys being an “observational animal” as he calls it. And that extends beyond radiology. Dr. Tu has a strong appreciation for the fine arts, especially the Washington Color Field artists. “I enjoy their massive size and color. Contemporary canvasses are filled with big swabs of color,” he said. One of his favorite artists is Sam Gilliam, as well as other artists that contributed to the Washington Color Field series now on display at the Hirschhorn Museum.
Practicing in the District has the advantage of having several museums just beyond his doorstep. “I served on the board of the Corcoran Gallery, now the National Gallery of Art, for several years,” he said. He retells the story of a woman he shared a ride with from a Corcoran board meeting. “She told me how her husband collected art and it was piled everywhere. She threatened to throw it out if he didn’t find a new home for it. She referred to the art as junk,” he said. As the ride neared its destination, Dr. Tu learned that the woman talking about her husband’s art collection was none other than Olga Hirschhorn. “She was a very unassuming woman,” he added.
In addition to the board at The Corcoran, Dr. Tu has been a long-time member of MSDC and has served on the board, been President of the organization, and chaired the Finance Committee. “MSDC is a great organization. We have made a lot of progress toward our mission of ensuring the well-being of physicians.” According to Dr. Tu, “if you aren’t at the table, you are the one being eaten.” Dr. Tu encourages other physicians to become a part of important policy decisions impacting their career field.
Do you know a physician who should be profiled in the MSDC Spotlight Series? Submit a nomination to Robert Hay, hay@msdc.org, for a future story. MSDC membership is encouraged for featured physicians.