ACC -- American College of Clinicians: A Great Idea Whose Time Has Come

The ACC is an organization of nurse practitioners and physician assistants committed to working together to provide the highest level of care to our patients.

(PRWEB) March 6, 2004

Most recently I had the opportunity to interview Mr. David Mittman, PA-C, who is a co-founder and serves on the Board of Advisors for the American College of Clinicians. A visionary for the PA profession with a wealth of leadership experience, Mr. Mittman is a past president of the New York State Society of Physician Assistants and was a founder of Clinicians Review magazine, where he is employed as Senior Vice President.

The Mission Statement of the American College of Clinicians is as follows: “The ACC is an organization of nurse practitioners and physician assistants committed to working together to provide the highest level of care to our patients. We promote access to innovative, affordable continuing education, and the integration of PAs and NPs as full members of the health care team.

We seek full recognition as health care providers with fair reimbursement for our services in all settings. By working together, we are committed to fostering a continuing positive dialogue among ourselves and other health care professionals who desire to join this dialogue.”

The organization began to take shape in June of 2003 at the AAPA conference in New Orleans, when a group of leaders from both the nurse practitioner and physician assistant professions gathered to discuss mutual goals, benefits and aspirations. In November 2003, the organization was successfully launched and now, and the membership is growing daily. Of note, in addition to Mr. Mittman, four other past presidents of NYSSPA serve on the ACC Board of Advisors.

When asked why the organization was formed, Mittman responded, “We recognize that the time has come for Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners to have a group that represents interests that are common to both groups. We are not here to replace the professional organizations that represent PAs or NPs, but rather it is through the ACC and our collective experience and strength in numbers that we can best promote and serve our mutual interests.”

Goals of the ACC include:

• Promoting the concept that the best way to deliver health care is in teams. NPs, PAs, and physicians all are entitled to fair reimbursement and recognition when providing care to our patients. We will advocate these rights.

• Working together whenever appropriate to support each other. Even though NPs and PAs are separate professions with distinct educational backgrounds and responsibilities, we will pursue the common good for both professions.

• Providing affordable continuing education that meets your needs.

• Delivering interprofessional education that highlights PAs and NPs: specifically, how we can help control costs while delivering quality care. We promise within our first year to develop a well-designed, easy-to-read advertisement that will run in some of the best-read physician journals. This ad will accurately inform physicians about what NPs and PAs do, and how working with us will benefit their practice. Thousands of physicians still do not know the benefits of having PAs and NPs work with them as colleagues.

• Educating the pharmaceutical industry and pharmacists that PAs and NPs are full prescribers and need to be recognized as such.

• Informing the health care industry and insurance companies about what we do. Once these institutions understand what’s in it for them and how NPs and PAs can benefit health care, how could they not agree to reimburse us?                                            

• Helping resolve disputes between NPs and PAs when asked. It is time we recognize that the two professions can be colleagues; let's not waste time being in opposition to each other.

Why should YOU become a member of the ACC? Mittman advocated:“There are 150,000 of us and there is surely strength in numbers. We are so closely linked anyway, that we might as well make sure that we use this power correctly. Fighting against each other or even continuing the ignorance that is out there drains our energy. When we agree (as we do on much), the results will come faster and better, working together.”

By Diane L. Stadtmiller, MA, CIW, RPA-C

Publisher’s Note: To learn more and to join the ACC online, go to:

http://www.amcollege.org/join.asp

The American College of Clinicians

1322 Walkers Way, Suite 200

San Antonio, TX 78216-7709

telephone (973) 954-9208 | fax (973) 954-9302