RESIDENTS & NEW PHYSICIANS By Katherine Haga, DO Novant Health, Cornelius, NC
ADVOCACY
Small Efforts Yield Big Opportunities
If you would have told me that I would have an opportunity to sit with the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra and North Carolina Congresswoman Alma Adams to discuss the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its impact on access to health care, I wouldn’t have believed you. Instead, I would have told you that I felt there were many more qualified people than me. Yet on July 7, 2021, I participated in a round table discussion with 10 others, including the Secretary, Congresswoman, and some amazing local access coordinators, legal advocates, and leaders. During that hour and a half, we discussed the ACA and health access, the impact Medicaid expansion would have in North Carolina, Covid-19 vaccination rates, the growing mental health crisis, and the importance of telehealth. As the only physician in the room, I had an opportunity to clarify issues from a clinical view. It was a humbling task to provide that important perspective in a non-clinical world when the topic involved health care policies and systems. Healthcare is an inherently different sector than any other. A true business, accounting for nearly 20% of our nation’s GDP, its essence deals with human lives, and those who administer care are those who do the work in our clinics and hospitals. Physicians, then, are leaders who are critically needed to unwind the tangled webs our of system and point the focus to where the system should be focused – on our patients. 22
Dr. Katherine Haga pictured with United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra.
So how did this happen? The short answer might be, right place, right time. Still, I believe it is more than that, and that it’s more a story of how small efforts can make a bigger impact. Recently, I participated in the AAFP Family Medicine Advocacy Summit (FMAS) on May 19, 2021. During this year’s virtual summit, we
The North Carolina Family Physician
