President's Message, Health Policy Updates, Indications for 76811, Zika Resources

During the trip, we met with members of several agencies and organizations:

The conversations included a broad range of topics of interest to our members and our patients, including maternal mental health and peripartum depression, the Zika epidemic, disaster preparedness, the prenatal screening bill that is being considered by Congress, genetic education for patients and providers, and collaborative models of care. Some groups were quite familiar with SMFM, while others were not. But we were uniformly welcomed and left every meeting with many good ideas for further collaboration.

The Society's vision includes, among other things, leading the global advancement of women's and children's health through advocacy efforts, and the SMFM leadership visits Washington 2-3 times a year as part of our advocacy activity. As with our recent trip, the visits and priorities vary with what is happening in Congress and events such as the Zika outbreak. But it is a wonderful opportunity to meet stakeholders and collaborators in person, to ask how SMFM can help with their efforts, and to brainstorm ideas to effectively impact the health and well-being of pregnant women and children. 

Katie Schubert, our SMFM advocacy representative, does a superb job arranging these meetings and representing us on the Hill throughout the year. Her column later in this newsletter has more detail about this latest trip as well as other HPAC activities.

As always, feel free to contact me if you have thoughts or questions about these, or other,

SMFM activities.

Best,

Mary

SMFM Leaders Visit Washington, DC to Spread SMFM Message

As Dr. Norton mentioned in her column, SMFM leaders visited Washington, DC

on June 7 and 8 to meet with key federal agencies, Congressional offices and other advocacy organizations in the maternal and child health space. SMFM has been engaging in these types of activities for several years, reaching out to collaborators to spread the message about research and public health activities related to MFMs and high-risk pregnancy.

The meetings will also inform SMFM's Health Policy & Advocacy Committee (HPAC) efforts related to federal policy agenda items over the next year. Currently the HPAC is tracking several pieces of legislation and working with federal agencies on the topics of medications in pregnancy, postpartum depression and quality maternity care, among others.

On June 9, 2016 the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its fiscal year 2017 spending bill for the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education. This bill received bipartisan support for the first time in seven years. Included in the report accompanying the bill was language related to research in preterm birth for which SMFM advocated. 

The bill would provide a $2 billion increase to the National Institutes of Health. Increases do come at the expense of other programs, with Committee Ranking Member Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) noting that the bill cuts the CDC by $118 million. When the Budget Control Act was passed it put into place discretionary spending caps that Congress must adhere to or an across-the-board cut, known as sequestration, goes into effect. Therefore, any increase in funding in one place must be offset elsewhere.

You and your office manager can enjoy this great educational and networking

opportunity while learning more about:

• Leadership
• Contracting
• Office Efficiency
• The Changing Health Care Environment