From MCAAP President, Dr. Mary Beth Miotto
Annual Leadership Forum - Resolution Process

As you all are settling in for what I hope are joyous celebrations of Independence Day, I wanted to reach out to all chapter members to explain one of the important roles of all AAP members: communicating your pediatric priorities to our state chapter and to our national AAP Board of Directors.
 
The chapter would like all members to participate in a strategic priority survey found here. Please use this to tell us YOUR child health and wellbeing advocacy priorities at your earliest convenience (if you haven't already). The MCAAP Board and chapter officers will use this information to fund professional staffing and guide volunteer efforts towards issues that are meaningful to you as our members. Similarly, on Friday, June 30th, you should all have received an email from the AAP National Executive Vice President Mark Del Monte inviting you to offer online written testimony for the policy resolutions that will be voted upon at the 2023 Annual Leadership Forum.
 
The Annual Leadership Forum is a gathering in early August where chapter and district officers and committee, council, and section chairs are updated on pediatric advocacy issues and vote on policy resolutions submitted by any AAP member, from medical student through senior physician member. Prior to that meeting, which our MCAAP Vice President Brenda Pring and chapter Executive Director Cathleen Haggerty will attend with me, there are opportunities for all members to submit written testimony on the resolutions and (if requested) to participate in the virtual reference committee meetings in the middle of July. There is also ample time for you all to reach out to Brenda, Cathleen, and me to let us know your thoughts on these resolutions so we can vote in the in-person meeting with our Massachusetts pediatricians in mind.
 
Below you will find the titles and resolution numbers of the seventy-one resolutions that will be discussed in these forums over the summer. Please look back into your email folders for Mark Del Monte’s letter that includes the link to the online written testimony (due by July 21) and/or reach out to us at the chapter (Chaggerty@mcaap.org) or me at Madocforkids@gmail.com to chat/send your thoughts on any resolutions.
 
I spent the first year of my MCAAP presidential term trying to solicit member thoughts and priorities. I will continue to do that in my second year but I also want you to understand how the AAP and the chapter function based on member priorities. We can do more by partnering with larger organizations like the national AAP and the Massachusetts Medical Society and with other child advocacy coalitions. Help your chapter representatives amplify your voice by participating in these opportunities. I’m also happy to hear from pediatricians who are not AAP or chapter members so we can create programming that engages all child health professionals in the Commonwealth. Always feel free to share these calls for input!
 
One more thing:
If you feel the national AAP needs to act on an issue you’re passionate about, please reach out to me now or by early winter and I’ll help you write a resolution for the 2024 Annual Leadership Forum!
 
Happy summer,
 
Mary Beth Miotto, MD, MPH, FAAP
President
Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
2023 AAP Annual Leadership Forum
 
Reference Committee A: Resolutions Related to Advocacy and to Health Care Finance

1.    Advocating for Physical Education in All School Platforms to Improve Physical
Health, Mental Health, and Academic Performance
2.    Supporting Universal Out-of-School Time (i.e., before or after school) Programs
for all Children and Adolescents
3.    Improving Access to Home-Related Services for Children with Disabilities
4.    Disability Identity to be Asked Along with Gender, Sexuality, and Pronouns for
 Children With Disabilities Ages 11-21yo
5.    Keeping Families with Transgender Children and Supportive Parents Together
6.     Federal Protections of Gender-Affirming Care for Both Patients and Their Doctors
7.     Support for State Constitutional Ballot Amendments That Protect Access to Reproductive Healthcare
8.     Ban on Youth-Oriented Gun Advertising
9.    Supporting Modernization of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
10. Advocating for Formula Shortage Preparedness for Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children
11. Advocating for Telehealth Across State Lines for Students
12. Relaxing Formulary Restrictions During Medication Shortages
13. Mandating “Every Use,” Child-Proof Packaging on Legally Sold Marijuana Products
14. Recognition of Advocacy as an Essential Skill for Pediatricians by Creation and Distribution of a Toolkit to Support the Advancement of Advocacy-Focused Pediatricians
15. Supporting Pediatric Payment Advocacy
16. Sustainability for Pediatric Preventive Care Recommendations
17. Increasing Access to Mental Health Services for Youth by Restructuring Medicaid Payment
18. Coverage for Therapies for Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
19. Promoting Equity and Addressing Financial Challenges to Interpreter Service Delivery in Pediatric Care
20. Electric Double Pump Coverage by Insurance Including Medicaid for Every Lactating Individual
21. Medicare for All Children
22. Medicare for All

Reference Committee B: Resolutions Related to Practice and Education

23. Additional Health Visit for Adolescents
24.  Provisional Autism Diagnosis by Pediatricians
25.  Integrating Autism Diagnostic Evaluation in Pediatric Primary Care
26.  Motor Developmental Screening to Improve Early Diagnosis of Neuromuscular Disorders
27. Equity in Cystic Fibrosis Newborn Screening
28. Advocate for Universal Perinatal Hepatitis C Screening
29. Supporting Pediatricians’ Discussion of Firearm Safety in Their Practices
30. Promoting Ethical, Evidence-Based Methods for Behavior Modification of Individuals with Disabilities
31. Children’s Health and the Use of Natural Gas Indoors
32. Use the Term “Developmental-Behavioral Health” in the Place of “Mental Health”
33. Inclusion of a Clinical Informatics Representative to the Bright Futures Periodicity Schedule Workgroup
34. Decreasing Needle Stick Pain During Vaccinations with a Non-Pharmacologic Intervention to Improve Vaccination Compliance
35. Decriminalizing Maternal and Neonatal Drug Testing
36. Parents and Family Caregivers are Integral Members of the Patient Care Team
37. Align the AAP Treatment Recommendations for Gender Incongruence and Gender Dysphoria with Findings from Systematic Reviews of Evidence
38. Expanding Education and Training on Water Safety and Drowning Prevention
39. Expanding Education and Training Regarding Children with Disabilities
40. Education and Training on Reproductive Health and Justice
41. Improving Access to Contraception for Adolescents through EQIPP
42. Physician and Patient Education Regarding Use of Chemical Hair Straighteners in Children and Adolescents with Afro-Textured Hair
43. Pain Medicine Training for Specialists in Pediatric Pain Management
44. Creation of a Standardized Training for Physician Suicide Prevention
45. Education for Screening and Intervening on Social Determinants of Health
46. Supporting Community Pediatricians Who Teach Medical Students and Residents in their Practice
47. Promoting Trainee Education on Gun Violence Prevention
48. Standardization of Preclinical Pediatric Education
49. Expanding Residency Programs to Address the Physician Shortage

Reference Committee B: Resolutions Related to AAP Governance and Operations

50. Replacing the Term “la gripe” With the More Precise Term “Influenza” in AAP
Spanish-Language Materials Relating to Influenza
51. Eliminate Plastic Waste Associated with AAP Journal Mailings
52. Reducing Phthalates in Medical-Use Plastics
53. Restore Single-Day Registration Fee for the AAP’s National Conference and Exhibition
54. Requirement of Seasonal Influenza Immunization or Certified Medical Exemption for Attendance at National AAP Events
55. Location of Future AAP Events
56. Planning AAP Events in States with Laws Discriminatory Toward Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults
57. Avoiding Scheduling Conflicts Between the Leadership Conference and Other Large Pediatric Conferences
58. Formalized Review of Certain Resolutions by Relevant AAP Committees/Councils/Sections
59. Complimentary Membership for Medical Students
60. Providing Discounted AAP Dues for Multi-Year Advanced Payment
61. Honoring Anthony S Fauci, MD
62. Pediatrician Well-Being Survey
63. Addressing Low AAP Voter Turnout
64. Mentorship for People from Rural Communities Interested in Pediatric Medicine
65. Pediatric Bereavement Support Systems
66. Creating Interdisciplinary Advocacy Collaboration Among AAP Entities
67. Funding for Chapter EDI Initiatives
68. Collaboration Between AAP and the Canadian Paediatric Society to Develop and Disseminate Evidence-based Cannabis Education to Reduce Irreversible Harm to North American Children
69. Promoting Age-Appropriate Vaccine Education in K-12 Health and/or Biology Classes
70. Long Term Safety of mRNA Vaccines in the Pediatric Population
71. Standardizing The Exchange of Vaccine Trial Data