18th Annual National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA) Meeting

On Friday, March 28, AAIP President Dr. Begay participated in a roundtable session at the 18th Annual National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA) meeting.  Panel members for this roundtable pictured below included (from left to right) Dr. Elena Rios (NHMA President and CEO); Dr. Ardis Hoven (American Medical Association President); Dr. Ho Luong Tran (President and CEO National Council of Asian Pacific Islander Physicians); Dr. Reid Blackwelder (President American Academy of Family Physicians); Dr. Adriann Begay (AAIP President); Dr. Katherine Flores (Chair, NHMA Board); Dr. Sandra Hassink (President-Elect American Academy of Pediatrics); Dr. Samuel Arce (Vice-Chair, NHMA Board); and Steven Weinberger (EVP/CEO American Colleges of Physicians).  Organizations were invited to discuss outreach and best practices to Hispanic patients and increasing medical staff diversity.

Dr. Begay informed attendees that data from the 2010 census indicates that 1.2 million individuals of Hispanic origin also identified themselves as AI/AN, of which more than 57% indicated Hispanic and AI/AN alone and 42% indicated multiple race to include Hispanic, AI/AN. Dr. Begay noted that the Affordable Care Act was important to AI/AN’s due to its permanent reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act; which would expand long term care, home & community-based services, hospice and assisted living. The legislation would also increase the public health and prevention programs including programs to increase the healthcare workforce.  Most importantly, she pointed out that “as minority physicians, we each have a responsibility in mentoring and increasing our workforce in order to change health outcomes by having culturally competent physicians in their own communities.”