Rheumatology has an even stronger voice in Washington, D.C., thanks to an influx of funding from rheumatology practices and state societies donating generously to the ACR’s RheumPAC Advocacy Fund since the beginning of the year.
According to federal law, only individuals can donate to RheumPAC, the only political action committee (PAC) dedicated to the interests of rheumatology. However, professional practices and other rheumatology groups expressed an interest in supporting the work of the RheumPAC collectively. To allow non-individual donations, the ACR launched the RheumPAC Advocacy Fund in early 2019. The fund has been highly successful, with more than $40,000 in donations received in its inaugural year.
These RheumPAC Advocacy Fund contributions are now providing RheumPAC with the opportunity to expand fundraising efforts, cover operating costs and take advantage of novel resources to improve advocacy outreach to ACR/ARP members and beyond.
Giving Back for Advocacy
One early supporter of the RheumPAC Advocacy Fund was the Virginia Society of Rheumatology (VSR), according to Harry Gewanter, MD, FAAP, MACR, VSR treasurer, board member, and previous RheumPAC chair.
“While chair of RheumPAC, I became aware that other medical and dental PACs had similar advocacy funds they used to expand their visibility and reach. At the same time, RheumPAC engaged a consultant to make suggestions for the future of the political action committee,” Gewanter says. “We loved the report, but didn’t have the resources to implement many of their recommendations. It only made sense that for us to do more, it would require the creation of the RheumPAC Advocacy Fund.”
Once the new fund was established, the VSR board agreed that providing financial support as a society was an important opportunity to help RheumPAC expand its abilities and promote the ACR’s policies and positions.
Support From Practices
Rheumatology practices also were eager to support the RheumPAC Advocacy Fund. One of the fund’s first practice donations came from the practice of Kent “Kwas” Huston, MD, in Kansas City, Mo.
“My partners immediately recognized the importance of the RheumPAC Advocacy Fund as a crucial investment in the future of rheumatology,” Dr. Huston says. “RheumPAC helps open doors [so we can] meet with decision makers. We must make every effort to educate those in the legislative and regulatory branches of government, because our specialty needs a strong voice when issues arise affecting our ability to maintain healthy practices and care for rheumatology patients.”
The most generous practice donations to the fund have come from one of the country’s largest private rheumatology practices, Arthritis and Rheumatism Associates (ARA), in the Washington, D.C., area.
“With the perspective of more than four decades in the private practice of medicine, we have been witness to the impact that policy has on our patients and the care we are able to give them,” says Herbert Baraf, MD, ARA’s managing partner.
Although every member of ARA had made personal donations to RheumPAC in the last few years, the practice’s physicians were troubled that only 4% of the ACR’s U.S. members had similarly supported the ACR’s agenda on Capitol Hill, Dr. Baraf says.
“Government policies can either elevate care or hinder it. Good policies are the byproduct of well-educated legislators,” he says. “These legislators gain an understanding of rheumatology’s issues through their interactions with ACR members who visit their offices or attend their events. We believed monies from practices like ours to the RheumPAC Advocacy Fund could help increase RheumPAC’s reach inside the ACR’s membership.”
Dr. Baraf hopes that ARA’s donation to the RheumPAC Advocacy Fund will help seed an increased awareness of the importance of advocacy and improve engagement among ACR members. He says supporting the fund will “allow the ACR to advance advocacy for patients, research and rational payment policies, which in turn should lead to improvement of the lives of patients with rheumatic diseases.”
How to Give
Is your practice or state society interested in donating to the ACR’s Advocacy Fund? Donate by writing a corporate check to RheumPAC Advocacy Fund and mailing it to:
RheumPAC
2200 Lake Boulevard NE
Atlanta, GA 30319
Carina Stanton is a freelance science journalist based in Denver.
