From the President

Dear Colleagues,

It would be very difficult for the AAAAI alone to solve all of the challenges that threaten our specialty and the healthcare system within which it operates. We recognize there is strength in collaboration and thus have been consistently leveraging our relationships with other groups in order to amplify our advocacy efforts.

Just last week leaders from the AAAAI and ACAAI spent a day on Capitol Hill meeting with various key Congressional representatives. We approached these visits in a tactical way. High-profile members of various Congressional committees relevant to science and healthcare outcomes were identified and we deliberately invited AAAAI and ACAAI leaders who are constituents of said Members of Congress. Hearing from physicians who are actual constituents carries more weight and you might say that it’s like using a lubricant to more easily open a door.

I was among those present, but the other AAAAI leaders who participated in the Capitol Hill visits were Thomas B. Casale, MD, FAAAAI; Robert A. Wood, MD, FAAAAI; Giselle Mosnaim, MD, MS, FAAAAI; and Denise A. DiPrimio-Kalman, DO, FAAAAI. ACAAI leaders who participated included James L. Sublett, MD, FAAAAI; Michael S. Blaiss, MD, FAAAAI; Stephen A. Imbeau, MD; J. Allen Meadows, MD; and Stanley M. Fineman, MD, MBA, FAAAAI.

To find out what topics we discussed, click here and read the supporting materials we distributed during our Hill visits.

AAAAI also had a very specific and timely ask for the Members of Congress with whom we met. On the day prior to our Hill visits, Representatives Phil Roe and Steny Hoyer introduced HR 2285, the School-Based Respiratory Health Management Act. AAAAI is a proud endorser of this bill, which would make certain that school nurses, staff and administrators are prepared to help students with reversible lower airway disorders, such as asthma, excel at school in a safe environment. HR 2285 goes hand-in-hand with the AAAAI’s School-based Asthma Management Program (SAMPRO™). SAMPRO has a new video that briefly explains how it can help children with asthma in the school setting. Visit aaaai.org/sampro to view the video and download the SAMPRO™ toolkit.

Everyone involved in the AAAAI/ACAAI Hill visits felt the conversations we had with Members of Congress were productive, and the AAAAI’s discussion of the School-Based Respiratory Health Management Act was especially well received.

In addition to the ACAAI, there are a number of other organizations with whom we work together. Here are some other notable collaborative advocacy efforts:

• We joined the Coalition to Advance Maternal Therapeutics (CAMT) in support of the AAAAI-facilitated Vaccines and Medications in Pregnancy Surveillance System (VAMPSS). The CAMT members were actively involved in securing the Pregnancy and Lactation Labeling Rule regulations that improved the communication on drug labels regarding safety for pregnant women and their babies. The group continues to follow a Federal Task Force called the Task Force on Research Specific to Pregnant Women and Lactating Women, currently being formed through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
• We joined the Immune Deficiency Foundation and more than 100 other parties in a letter supporting payment for subcutaneous immunologlobulin therapy for immune deficiency payments after changes in the 21st Century Cures legislation created a delay of several years for home infusion program improvements. We continue to support this effort and others with them.
• The AAAAI has been actively engaged with the Stakeholder Forum on Antibiotic Resistance as a means of supporting broad efforts on antibiotic resistance and also specifically to promote the role of penicillin allergy testing. See here for the AAAAI’s position statement on penicillin allergy testing.
• The AAAAI regularly supports American Medical Association advocacy efforts on a range of issues, each considered separately by AAAAI leadership for consistency with our own advocacy concerns and priorities.
• Finally, the AAAAI is a member of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, which officially launched earlier this year.

This is not an exhaustive list, but these examples illustrate how the AAAAI consistently works to be the voice of the allergy/immunology community through collaborative advocacy efforts.

Sincerely,

David B. Peden, MD, MS, FAAAAI

AAAAI President

Last updated: May 12, 2017