ACOI in Action
Principle-Centered Medicine^™ at Work

ACOI recently joined numerous medical societies in sending a letter to all Senate and House lawmakers asking for congressional hearings and collaboration with stakeholders to explore long-term solutions to the broken Medicare physician payment system. 

ACOI President, Joanne Kaiser-Smith, DO, FACOI, on what to expect in the coming year. 

The Senate has passed an end-of-year spending deal that falls well short of providing physicians full relief from a 4.5 percent Medicare physician fee schedule cut.

PNWU students spoke to us about their experiences at "Kidney Camp," a program called TREKS (Tutored Research and Education for Kidney Scholars) that they attended at the University of Chicago last summer.

Educating physicians and patients, Kellee Randle, DO, FACOI is a hospitalist and an entrepreneur pursuing a dual mission. Bringing awareness to how implicit bias corrupts quality care delivery is something she began in earnest during the pandemic through her company, Equity Ventures Plus LLC. She is also a firm believer in teaching patients how to advocate for themselves and how and what to ask for to ensure they are being proactive in their own health care.  

Antimicrobial resistance is a global crisis. Without action by Congress to incentivize the development of new antibiotics, the pipeline will fail & people will die from once treatable infections. Congress must pass the PASTEUR Act this year.

ACOI announces the results of the first national election of officers for the Student Osteopathic Internal Medicine Association (SOIMA). From colleges of osteopathic medicine (COMs) spanning from Arizona to Virgina, students were chosen in the October 2022 elections to serve in the Association’s leadership roles.

On November 1, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), issued the CY2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) final rule. As expected, physicians will receive a 4.6 percent cut to the conversion factor — the basic starting point for calculating physician payments — unless Congress intervenes. The cut is a product of the expiration of the 3 percent supplemental increase to PFS payments for CY 2022 provided by Congress and budget neutrality adjustments triggered by coding changes for evaluation and management visits.

The ACOI announces the appointment of Joanne Kaiser-Smith, DO, FACOI, as President for 2022-2023. Dr. Kaiser-Smith will serve as ACOI’s President for a one-year term after a decade of service to the ACOI Board of Directors. She has been an ACOI member for over 35 years and earned the distinction of Fellow (FACOI) in 1994.

Driven by his passion to ensure osteopathic physicians were well represented whenever decisions about the future of medicine were being made, David. F. Hitzeman, DO, MACOI, the 2022 winner of the ACOI's Distinguished Service Award has never shied away from immersing himself in tackling the big issues of the day.

ACOI is thrilled to bring POCUS to our Annual Convention for the first time at #ACOI2022, October 19-22 in Baltimore. You are invited to participate in this unique opportunity to learn more about this must-have technology. Choose one of our special in-person Point-of- Care Ultrasound (POCUS) sessions while earning CME credits and MOC points.

Each year, nominations detailing our members’ accomplishments and activities deserving consideration are accepted by the ACOI and selections are made by the ACOI Honors and Awards committee based on specific criteria for each award. This year three award winners will be honored at #ACOI2022 during the Annual Fellows Convocation.