FFFM | April 2026 Advocacy Rounds

David Tully, AAFP vice president of government relations, recaps the AAFP's April 2026 advocacy efforts.

AAFP led a coalition letter urging the Departments of Homeland Security and State to speed visa and immigration processing for international medical graduates, citing delays with J-1 waivers, H-1B extensions, and green cards that disrupt care in rural and underserved areas.

AAFP warned the Department of Education that a proposed Workforce Pell rule could exclude physicians with graduate degrees from short-term training support, worsening workforce gaps.

The organization backed legislation to eliminate Medicare's 20% coinsurance for chronic care management, joined a CMS convening on the new ACO LEAD model, and submitted regulatory comments opposing added administrative burden and HRSA's proposed 340B rebate model.

Topics by Timestamp

00:00 April Advocacy Recap

00:34 Supporting IMG Visas

01:57 Workforce Pell Concerns

02:34 Chronic Care Management Bill

03:16 CMS ACO Lead Model

03:57 Regulatory Burden Pushback

05:01 GME IQ Data Tool

05:26 Primary Care Underinvestment

06:32 Get Involved and Wrap Up

Additional Resources

• Hearing on "Lowering Health Care Costs for All Americans: An Examination of the U.S. Provider Landscape" | Democrats, Energy and Commerce Committee

• Shawn Martin Testimony to Energy and Commerce Committee

• Exploring Opportunities to Improve Patient Access to Care through Strategic Changes to Graduate Medical Education: A Workshop

• Measuring the Impact of Family Medicine Graduate Medical Education (GME) on Community Need: Introducing the GME-IQ | Annals of Family Medicine

• Joint Letter Requesting National Interest Exceptions and Expedited Visa Processing for Physicians - April 8, 2026

• AAFP letter to HRSA on 340B Rebate Pilot RFI- April 20, 2026

• AAFP Letter to FDA on Flavored Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems

• AAFP Letter to CMS on CRUSH RFI

• LEAD (Long-term Enhanced ACO Design) Model | CMS

• Joint Letter in Support of Chronic Care Management Improvement Act - April 14, 2026

• AAFP Response to Education Department on AHEAD PR - April 8, 2026

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