Primary Care Summer Leadership Program 2012

GE-NMF PRIMARY CARE SUMMER LEADERSHIP PROGRAM 2012

Apply Now - http://www.nmfonline.org/programs-GE-PCLP.php#

The GE Foundation and NMF are pleased to announce a new Primary Care Leadership Program (PCLP) that will provide future primary care healthcare professionals a valuable opportunity to examine the challenges and rewards of primary care practice in community health centers across the US. This program enhances traditional clinical externships with an element of leadership training and network building. The overall mission of the PCLP is to develop a pipeline of future primary care professionals and to build capacity at community health centers.

The innovative PCLP scholarship program will provide students with a service‐learning opportunity at community health centers in Los Angeles CA, Phoenix AZ, Memphis & Nashville TN, or Jackson MS during the summer of 2012. Participants are required to complete 200 service hours within 5 to 7 weeks of the program’s start date. The GE‐NMF scholars will be actively engaged in healthcare services, leadership training, and institutional project activities relevant to both academic programs and host sites, and will participate in a network of organizations and individuals from academic institutions, NMF alumni and program advisors.

Eligibility and Selection Criteria:

2012 scholarships will be awarded to thirty medical students (rising MSIIs and MSIIIs). The scholarship stipend is expected to cover travel, living, and lodging expenses during the

program.

--
Elizabeth Wiley, JD, MPH
MD Candidate, George Washington University School of Medicine
President Elect & Vice President for Internal Affairs, American Medical Student Association
202.316.8254 (c)
ewiley@gwmail.gwu.edu

http://blogs.medscape.com/thedifferential

Supreme Court and the ACA

Author: William Teeter, Legislative Affairs Delegate

Legislative Affairs: Supreme Court and ACA – After Action Report

Last week, the United States Supreme Court heard one of the most important cases in the last 50 years for not only constitutional law, but also the future of our largest industry: healthcare. The issues before the Supreme Court were complex and of the utmost importance to the future of healthcare and the relationship of individuals with their government.

I will try to summarize the “tone” of the legal community afterwards. I have tried to provide the general consensus and greatest weight of opinion.

1. The Anti-Injunction Act of 1867 – The justices were remarkably “cool” on this issue, and did not interrupt or ask many questions. The argument for applying the “tax” label on the individual mandate was made by counsel appointed by the court, since no involved party supported this argument. It would be very surprising if the court found that this law applies, thus delaying a decision.

2. Severability – A majority of the court seemed very skeptical about the court’s role in determining the intent of Congress. From Justice Scalia’s “cruel and unusual punishment” comment to Justice Breyer observing it would take a year to divine the intent of every provision in the 2,700 page bill, it appears very unlikely that the Supreme Court would allow a severance of “guaranteed issue” insurance from the provision that would make it possible: the individual mandate.

3. The Individual Mandate – There is a great deal of disagreement over the conclusions that can be drawn from the oral arguments. Most pundits and observers of the court agree that if the opinion was filed today, the individual mandate would be struck down 5-4 or less likely, 6-3. The justices met in conference on Friday, March 30th for a preliminary vote. They will construct their arguments over the coming weeks in an attempt to persuade the other justices. Justice Kennedy, the “swing” vote in many high-profile cases, has changed his vote several times previously during this process and may do so again. Most sources agree that the law has an uphill battle and will only survive if one of the conservative justices upholds the mandate on either the “commerce” or “taxation” clauses.

4. Medicaid Expansion – The Medicaid expansion essentially presents an accept-or-else offer of federal dollars to the states. Surprisingly, the court seemed skeptical about this provision given that the constitutionality of previous expansions has not been questioned. South Dakota v. Dole found that “in some circumstances the financial inducement offered by Congress might be so coercive as to pass the point at which ‘pressure turns into compulsion’”, violating various clauses of the Constitution. Some legal experts have hypothesized that given the importance and complexity of the Medicaid issue, the justices may err on the side of judicial conservatism and rule against severability. Using the same reasoning, others believe that this provision is the most likely to be severed and survive regardless of the decision on the individual mandate.

Legislative Resources

We wanted to share some legislative resources mentioned at our meeting with the whole OSR.

1. Washington Highlights is a summary published by the Advocacy office with a summary of the newsworthy items from the previous week:https://www.aamc.org/advocacy/washhigh/

2. Second Opinion is a comment written by Dr. Atul Grover, the AAMC Chief Advocacy Officer, to acquaint stakeholders and decision-makers with the “issues of the day”. Subscription details and an archive old issues can be found here:https://www.aamc.org/advocacy/secondopinion/

3. The Medical Education Debt Act: A Zero‐Cost Proposal. I have attached a Bill proposed by the GME to solve many GME-funding issues.

4. The AAMC’s site summarizing their position on GME funding:https://www.aamc.org/initiatives/gmefunding/

5. Other resources can be found at: https://www.aamc.org/advocacy/

If you have any questions, please contact myself, your legislative affairs delegates, regional officers, or Matt Shick (mshick@aamc.org), Senior Legislative Analyst at the AAMC.

Medical Education Update

Med School LOANS: a new tool!

This year, the AAMC Organization of Student Representatives (OSR) has focused on the rising cost of medical education and the debt incurred by students. At this year's Annual Meeting, we will be showcasing innovations that may serve as effective ways to mitigate this crisis and will share the data we collected from the Tuition and Debt survey administered by the Student Affairs Committee.

We are thrilled to announce the launch of a tool that the OSR Administrative Board began thinking about several years ago: the Medloans® Organizer and Calculator.

Not surprisingly, 87% of medical students graduate with debt. Managing loans is not only challenging, it's also a painful task that students would like to spend as little time as possible doing. The Medloans® Organizer and Calculator developed by the AAMC's FIRST team is a FREE resource that is available to all medical students. Medloans® Organizer and Calculator will help you keep all of your loan information in one place and manage personalized payment plans when it comes time.

Don't ignore your loans any longer! If you haven't already, we urge you to check this out at www.aamc.org/first, using your AAMC Sign in information. If you don’t have an AAMC sign in or if you forgot your sign in password please contact first@aamc.org.

Please pass along this excellent resource to friends, colleagues and classmates. We hope that this tool will help make managing your debt a little less stressful.

CDC Experience in Applied Epidemiology Fellowship

The CDC Experience Applied Epidemiology Fellowship - Call for Applications

Are you a medical student looking for something different to do next year?

• Are you curious about how public health and the CDC work?
• Do you want to work with state, local and international public health partners?
• Are you interested in being ahead of the curve on prevention and accountability in health reform?
• Would you be interested in:
  • investigating outbreaks of tuberculosis among the homeless, or in a prison population?
  • traveling to Latin America to help set up a surveillance program for pertussis?
  • assessing risk factors for birth defects using national data bases?
  • being at the forefront of injury prevention research?
  • participating in the response to a public health emergency?

Do you want an experience that offers an opportunity to enhance your research skills, build leadership potential, and improve your clinical acumen via a population health perspective, all by working on real-life problems?

Then consider applying to The CDC Experience!

The CDC Experience Applied Epidemiology Fellowship is a one-year fellowship tailored for rising 3rd- and 4th-year medical students, designed to increase the pool of physicians with a population health perspective. Eight competitively selected fellows spend 10-12 months at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offices in Atlanta, GA, where they carry out epidemiologic analyses in various areas of public health. Examples of previous and current areas of concentration include viral and bacterial diseases, cardiovascular health, obesity prevention, birth defects, STDs, injury prevention, and air pollution and respiratory health.

To learn more about The CDC Experience Fellowship and to apply online, visit us at www.cdc.gov/CDCExperienceFellowship.

Applications for next year's fellowship class must be submitted by Friday December 3, 2010.

Student to Student

Ms. Mandy Harris might be the best person to grace downstate. EVER. She has just used her amazing skill set to create a free way for Downstate students to communicate and most importantly, sell these darn books that have been clogging up our shelves and depleting our pocket book!

Check out the new site: http://www.DownstateStudents.com

It's simple: And it might be the answer to our prayers:

1. Register with your Downstate address (keeps out the riff raff).
2. Login and change your address to the one you really use.
3. Post all your stuff for sale.
4. Collect cash, clear your shelves.