The Ohio Academy of Family Physicians (OAFP) advocacy team monitors healthcare related legislation, rule changes, and legislative updates for Ohio’s family physicians.
To access the OAFP Bill Tracker, visit the OAFP Public Policy webpage and click on the Bill Tracker icon.
Read on for this week’s updates and contact Advocacy Coordinator Kaela Springhetti with questions or for ways to get involved.
Apply to Attend the Family Medicine Advocacy Summit as an Emerging Leader
Take an active role in shaping family medicine’s future by attending the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Family Medicine Advocacy Summit (FMAS) Sunday-Tuesday, June 14-16, in Washington, DC.
During FMAS, you’ll learn tactics for being a specialty champion. Plus, you’ll flex your skills when you lobby directly with members of Congress to influence public policies that affect your patients and practice.
- Be an active or a resident OAFP member
- Have participated in OAFP’s Public Policy Workgroup within the past three years.
Members interested in selection and funding should complete the application by Tuesday, January 13. The OAFP Executive Committee will review applicant materials, select up to two Emerging Leaders, and notify recipients no later than Friday, February 13.
Please contact Kaela for more information and with questions.
AAFP Speak Out Opportunity
Source: The American Academy of Family Physicians
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) is asking members to join its efforts in protecting the physician-patient relationship.
Recent actions in both Congress and federal agencies would interfere with the physician-patient relationship and limit physicians’ ability to provide appropriate, patient-centered care.
These proposals target care for patients experiencing gender dysphoria, a complex and deeply personal medical condition. Decisions about evaluation and treatment should be made by patients, families, and their physicians, guided by clinical evidence and individual patient needs, not by government mandates.
Government interference in medical decision-making undermines trust, restricts clinical judgement, and risks harm to patients. While these efforts focus on gender dysphoria today, they set a dangerous precedent for broader intrusion into medical practice, including chronic disease management and preventive care.
Please take two minutes to participate in this Speak Out. Together, we can ensure a stronger healthcare system for all. Thank you for your commitment to protecting our physicians and improving patient care.
HHS, CDC Change Childhood Vaccine Recommendations Including Flu, RSV
Source: Hannah News
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently announced they have changed the childhood immunization schedule, following a directive by President Donald Trump to examine other nations’ practices in relation to the U.S. system.
The update retains the current system of grouping childhood vaccines in three categories, all of which are required to be covered by insurance companies without cost-sharing. Under the new schedule, the shared clinical decision-making basis is now recommended for influenza, COVID-19, rotavirus, meningococcal disease, hepatitis A, and hepatitis B immunization. HHS and the CDC previously recommended shared clinical decision-making for the COVID-19 vaccine in children.
Immunizations now recommended for certain high-risk groups and populations include respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), dengue, meningococcal ACWY, meningococcal B, hepatitis A, and hepatitis B. The CDC previously announced in December 2025 it had adopted individual decision-making regarding hepatitis B vaccination to infants whose mothers tested negative for the virus.
Read the full article in Hannah News.
Governor DeWine Announces Ohio’s Rural Health Transformation Program Award
Source: Office of the Governor of Ohio Mike DeWine
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine recently announced that Ohio will receive more than $200 million from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through the Rural Health Transformation Program to strengthen healthcare across Ohio’s rural communities.
“We are so grateful to be awarded this funding so that more Ohioans can receive expanded access and enhanced quality to necessary healthcare,” said Gov. DeWine. “Thank you, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, MD, MBA, for your support of Ohio’s proposal. We are committed to working collaboratively with you and your teams to ensure these funds are fully utilized so rural Ohioans can live their healthiest lives. Thank you, Senators Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno for your continued work to invest in rural health care here in Ohio.”
According to the Ohio Department of Health’s (ODH) Ohio Chronic Disease Atlas 2025, Ohioans living in rural parts of the state experience higher rates of chronic disease, lower access to specialty care, and worse health outcomes. Frequently, Ohioans living in rural communities live far from care, making preventive and early intervention services difficult to access.
Ohio’s Rural Health Transformation Program proposal focuses on addressing these barriers by building on existing state investments to expand access to care in rural communities, strengthen the rural health workforce, modernize rural facilities and technology, and support innovative models that bring high-quality, dependable care closer to home.
With this funding, Ohio will invest in more school-based health centers in rural communities, expand the Ohio Student Eye Exam (OhioSEE) child vision care program to more students in rural school districts, and build upon Ohio’s success in reducing infant mortality rates by expanding evidence-based home visiting models to more rural communities across the state.
Ohio’s plan also includes support for two programs to boost workforce and innovation. Ohio will build out the Rural Healthcare Workforce Pipeline by creating partnerships between healthcare providers and educational institutions to encourage Ohio providers to recruit Ohio medical and healthcare students to find long-term employment in Ohio’s rural communities.
Additionally, Ohio will launch Rural Patient Health Innovation Hubs to provide those living in rural areas with access to the best-in-class, integrated care in their communities by partnering with hospitals, community health centers, behavioral health specialists, and others to bring high-quality healthcare options closer to home.
ODH is the lead agency for Ohio’s program and will continue to work with federal partners as more information and guidance become available.
Trump Administration Agrees to Drop Anti-DEI Criteria for Stalled Health Research Grants
Source: The Ohio Capital Journal
The Trump Administration will review frozen grants to universities without using its controversial standards that discouraged gender, race, and sexual orientation initiatives and vaccine research.
In a settlement agreement filed in Massachusetts federal court recently, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a group of Democratic attorneys general who’d challenged the new criteria for grant funding said the NIH would consider grant applications made up to September 29, 2025, without judging the efforts related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) or vaccines.
The settlement provides an uncontested path for the agency while courts decide whether the administration can use its controversial analysis. The administration did not agree to permanently ditch its campaign to evaluate health research funding decisions based on schools’ DEI programs.
NIH officials “will complete their consideration of the Applications in the ordinary course of NIH’s scientific review process, without applying the Challenged Directives,” the settlement said, adding that the agency would “evaluate each application individually and in good faith.”
The settlement was signed by U.S. Department of Justice lawyers and the attorneys general of Massachusetts, California, Maryland, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin.
In a recent statement, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said the agreement commits the Department of Health and Human Services to resume “the usual process for considering NIH grant applications on a prompt, agreed-upon timeline.”
The 17 attorneys general sued in April 2025 over $783 million in frozen grants.
A trial court and appeals court in Massachusetts sided with the states, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in August 2025 that the trial judge lacked the authority to compel the grants to be paid, especially in light of a similar decision involving the Education Department.
December Issue of AAFP’s Family Medicine Advocacy Rounds
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) has released its December issue of Family Medicine Advocacy Rounds, a monthly tip sheet to educate, engage, and update you on the latest policy issues affecting family physicians and their patients.
- AAFP Supports Hepatitis B Vaccination at Birth
- IRS Finalizes Guidance Allowing HSAs to Pay for Direct Primary Care
- Robert Graham Center Research: Rural U.S. Loses 1 in 9 Family Physicians in 6 Years
- CMS Unveils New Tech-focused ACCESS Model
- AAFP Asks DOJ, FTC to Examine Anti-competitive Health Plan Downcoding
- AAFP Provides Feedback to FDA on Real-world Evaluation of AI-enabled Medical Devices
- AAFP Joins Call to Withdraw HIPAA Cybersecurity Proposed Rule
- AAFP Urges Congress to Act on Rising Health Care Costs
- AAFP Applauds Reauthorization of the SUPPORT Act.