Advocacy in a COVID-19 America

What’s Next

This first-ever Virtual Hill Day held by the ACR is just the beginning. It represents a new avenue for our advocacy efforts, and I encourage all members to consider joining in upcoming virtual visits to Capitol Hill. In addition to accessing your lawmakers directly at the ACR’s Legislative Action Center, you can apply to join us in September for our Advocates for Arthritis conference, where you can continue to lend your voices and important perspectives to those legislators who are making decisions for our healthcare system and for the nation.

For the past several months the ACR has been tackling the many challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic through our Practice & Advocacy COVID-19 Task Force, which has provided rapid responses to many issues. This task force has also worked in concert with many of our dedicated volunteer leaders on our committees.

Visit our COVID-19 pages, where you will find resources and guidance to assist you in keeping up with the many issues posed by this pandemic. In addition, advocacy issues unique to the current times can be found on our advocacy page.

My sincere thanks to all of the rheumatologists and interprofessional team members who are providing care to patients in these unprecedented times and, especially, to everyone who took the time to weigh in virtually on advocacy issues and help us all with the challenges we are facing. Advocacy for the rheumatology community continues in these challenging times, and I hope you will add your voice as we continue this journey together.

Ellen M. Gravallese, MD, is chief of the Division of Rheumatology, Inflammation and Immunity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston. She is the 83rd president of the ACR.