Calls for Unified Voice Are Heard throughout Advocacy Summit

With the US just a few months into a new presidential administration and unprecedented change, surgeons are being urged to use a unified voice and leverage the College’s collective influence to advocate for the profession and surgical patients.

Christian Shalgian, Senior Vice President of the ACS Division of Advocacy and Health Policy, welcomed more than 300 attendees to the Advocacy portion of the Leadership & Advocacy Summit, reminding them, “The work doesn’t stop when you leave here this week.”

In preparation for visits to Capitol Hill, attendees engaged in several informative panels and educational sessions that provided valuable insights into crucial policy issues, offered strategic guidance for effective advocacy, and allowed the opportunity to hear directly from experts and leaders involved in shaping healthcare legislation.

“I first attended the ACS Leadership & Advocacy Summit over a decade ago as an ACS resident scholarship recipient, which opened my eyes to the impact of strong advocacy and the importance of surgeon engagement in health policy,” said attendee Kevin Koo, MD, MPH, MPhil, FACS, a urologist from Rochester, Minnesota. “Today, as Advocacy Chair of the ACS Young Fellows Association, I continue to return to the summit to advance my leadership, support the College’s legislative priorities, and mentor the next generation of surgeon-advocates.”

Understand Your Value, Actively Advocate

In the panel, “Changing Healthcare Landscape at the Payor, Physician, and Employer Levels,” moderator Christopher Childers, MD, PhD, from the University of Washington in Seattle, led a discussion covering the changing healthcare landscape and how it affects surgeons, particularly in terms of consolidation, private equity involvement, and changes in compensation models.

Overall, the panel emphasized the need for surgeons to prioritize their own needs, understand their value, and actively advocate for themselves.

Jessica Minesinger, CMOM, CMPE, FACMPE, BBC, president and CEO of Surgical Compensation & Consulting in Troy, Ohio, stressed that surgeons must understand their compensation structures, negotiate for guaranteed base salaries, and advocate for themselves as valuable economic generators for their employers.

“We’re in uncertain times right now. The cost of providing care is going up. The cost of everything is going up. And then the fee cut back makes it hard to imagine that there is respect for physicians, that physicians are valued, that patient care is valued,” she said.

Another panelist, Ann Bittinger, JD, a physician employment agreement attorney, highlighted problematic provisions in employment contracts that can strip surgeons of their autonomy, such as noncompete clauses, disappearing base salary guarantees, and burdensome tail insurance requirements. She advised surgeons to carefully review their contracts and push back against terms that limit their ability to practice medicine on their own terms.

“What company name is at the top of your employment agreement?” she asked, while also sharing warnings to fully understand which company you actually work for and whether or not your employer can sell you (or your contract, that is).

Digital Transformation

A hot topic in healthcare right now is digital transformation, which involves using technology to improve healthcare delivery, patient care, and operational efficiency. The panel session, “Digital Transformation and Evolving Surgery Policy,” moderated by Gabriel Brat, MD, FACS, from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, addressed the importance of dealing with the digital divide, ensuring equitable access and digital literacy, and maintaining the human element in the patient-provider relationship as these new technologies are integrated into healthcare.

More specifically, the panelists—Sarah Gilbert, chief of staff to Rep. Neal Dunn, MD, FACS (R-FL), Genevieve Melton-Meaux, MD, PhD, FACMI, FACS, ACS Chief Informatics Officer, and Aliza Silver, JD, MPH, from Oracle—focused on:

• Payment models and reimbursement for digital care and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled technologies, and the need for new policies to enable coverage and adoption
• Cybersecurity and regulatory oversight of medical devices, with proactive, collaborative approaches between industry and government
• Data privacy, interoperability, and information exchange to improve patient care
• The role of Congress in keeping up with rapid technological changes, fostering public-private partnerships, and enacting flexible policies that enable innovation while prioritizing patient safety and trust
• Liability and risk management around the use of AI and autonomous technologies in clinical decision-making, and the need for transparency, explainability, and shared responsibility between providers, vendors, and regulators

Quality Is Multidimensional

In another morning panel, “Advocating for Quality in Value-Based Care and APMs,” Melissa Medeiros, MPP, from Hart Health Strategies Inc. in Washington, DC, led a discussion that underscored the complexity of improving quality and value in healthcare, and the need for a multifaceted approach that engages patients, providers, and policymakers.

Panelist Clifford Y. Ko, MD, MS, MSHS, FACS, Senior Vice President of the ACS Division of Research and Optimal Patient Care, highlighted several issues with current quality measurement approaches, including the use of poor metrics and unreliable data. He argued for a greater focus on building the necessary organizational structures and resources to support high-quality care, rather than just measuring outcomes.

“Quality is multidimensional,” he reminded the audience, while also stressing that STEEEP—a widely recognized framework for improving healthcare quality—continues to guide quality measure development more than 20 years after it was first established. According to STEEEP, healthcare quality is defined by six domains:

• Safe: Avoiding harm to patients
• Timely: Providing care when it is needed
• Effective: Using evidence-based practices to provide the most appropriate care
• Efficient: Avoiding waste and using resources wisely
• Equitable: Providing care that is fair and just for all patients
• Patient-Centered: Respecting and responding to individual patient preferences and values

The day’s final panel, “Advocacy 101,” moderated by Matt Duckworth, from Hart Health Strategies Inc., revealed an inside look at the legislative process and the role of advocates and Hill staffers in Congress.

Panelists included Don J. Selzer, MBA, MD, FACS, from Indiana University in Indianapolis, and 2024 SurgeonsVoice Advocate of the Year, Shalgian, Catherine B. Hayes, MPP, from the GOP Doctors Caucus in Washington, DC, and Asha Samuel, senior health policy advisor to Rep. Ami Bera, MD (D-CA).

The session prepared attendees for the Capitol Hill visits by equipping them with practical strategies and insights to enhance their advocacy efforts. Participants learned how to structure and conduct impactful meetings with lawmakers by emphasizing compelling patient stories and real-life experiences, rather than relying on facts and figures. This approach helps humanize complex healthcare issues and makes message more relatable and memorable.

Attendees also gained a clearer understanding of the inner workings of Congress, including the challenges of capturing lawmakers’ attention amid competing priorities. The panelists stressed the importance of flexibility, tailoring messages to resonate with each audience, and developing ongoing relationships with congressional staffers—who often serve as gatekeepers and influencers in the legislative process.

By focusing on advocacy techniques grounded in personal connection, credibility, and persistence, the session empowered participants to effectively communicate their concerns about critical issues and contribute to healthcare policy discussions on the Hill.

“Going to Capitol Hill with hundreds of Fellows to meet directly with legislators and policymakers was such an empowering experience. Over and over, we heard from members of Congress that the voices of frontline physicians are more relevant than ever in policy discussions. Sharing our firsthand stories about how to safeguard rural access to surgical care, reduce the administrative burden on our practices, and strengthen the surgical workforce is vitally important to advancing public policy through advocacy,” said Dr. Koo.

Congressional Asks

As the day’s series of thought-provoking presentations and panels drew to a close, staff members from the ACS DC office detailed the asks and provided background information in preparation for in-person visits to the Congressional offices. The attendees broke into groups by state to prepare for their visits and discuss the following issues:

• Stop cuts to Medicare physician payment
• Support the surgical workforce by addressing student loan debt
• Authorize and fund critical trauma programs
• Support $10 million for neglected surgical conditions
• Improve cancer care and access for patients, and improve cancer research
• Reduce administrative burden and support surgeon well-being

Additional interactive advocacy training was provided to equip attendees with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to effectively engage in Hill Day. The training ensured participants were not only informed, but also practicing techniques for persuasive storytelling and strategic messaging to drive change.

“The advocacy component was powerful. In such a volatile time, it was meaningful to be able to sit together with the unwavering commitment to advocate for our patients. Going to Capitol Hill and bringing these pressing issues to the forefront was an empowering experience—one that reinforced the importance of our collective voice in shaping policy and practice,” said attendee Khuaten Maaneb de Macedo, MD, a general surgery resident from Boston Medical Center in Massachusetts.

Several members of Congress—Reps. John Joyce, MD (R-PA), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Buddy Carter, RPh (R-GA), and Kelly Morrison (D-MN), as well as Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) via recorded video—joined the summit and shared their thoughts on the important role surgeons play in advocating for critical healthcare policy issues that impact surgery and high-quality patient care.

On Hill Day, 246 Advocacy Summit attendees representing 41 states participated in 218 meetings.

“My favorite part of Hill Day was running into groups of Fellows from other states as we crisscrossed Capitol Hill. Trading stories from our productive meetings with legislators, sharing the successes of our advocacy—the energy was incredible. It’s the reason I keep coming back to the summit, year after year,” said Dr. Koo.

Dr. Maaneb de Macedo agreed, sharing, “In our field, connections forged are vital, and meeting these other passionate young leaders gave me a push to continue doing this work no matter the difficulty. We all supported one another throughout the summit and will continue to do so as we return to our respective institutions.”

The 2026 Leadership & Advocacy Summit will be February 28–March 3 in Washington, DC.

Jennifer Bagley is the Editor-in-Chief of the Bulletin and Senior Manager in the ACS Division of Integrated Communications in Chicago, IL.