Latest updates on ACP's priorities, initiatives

Position paper addresses ethics in long-term care

A new paper from the College sheds light on the ethical challenges and systemic flaws in long-term care in the United States, urging a fundamental shift toward patient-centered, equitable, and accountable care. “Optimizing Ethical Care, Quality, and Safety in Long-Term Services and Supports: A Position Paper from the American College of Physicians,” was published May 6 by Annals of Internal Medicine.

The paper notes that long-term care, including nursing homes, assisted living facilities, home-based services, and hospice, is essential for individuals who are unable to care for themselves due to chronic conditions, cognitive decline, or functional limitations. Despite its importance, the system suffers from inadequate staffing, inconsistent oversight, and unsustainable business models that often prioritize profits over patient well-being, ACP said.

The paper emphasizes that systemic problems have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which revealed significant weaknesses in infection control, transparency, and oversight across care facilities.

To address this, the paper calls for ethical, evidence-based use of resources, respect for patient dignity and autonomy, advancement of health equity, and greater transparency and accountability in long-term care.

New ACP MKSAP CORE helps users demonstrate continuous learning

ACP has launched a new ACP Medical Knowledge Self-Assessment Program^SM feature, ACP MKSAP CORE (Confirmation of Relevant Education^TM), to support internal medicine physicians in demonstrating continuous learning.

Physicians may answer ACP MKSAP CORE question sets to demonstrate, verify, and provide evidence of their maintenance of education and learning achievement based on a professionally standardized passing threshold. The new ACP MKSAP CORE feature is available at no extra cost to ACP MKSAP subscribers.

Physicians who achieve a threshold of ACP MKSAP learning engagement unlock access to 12 ACP MKSAP CORE quizzes encompassing 300 additional assessment questions. Successful ACP MKSAP CORE participants receive a digital badge after passing individual quizzes. Learners can earn and print a shareable ACP MKSAP CORE certificate for inclusion in their professional portfolio once they have received any 10 badges.

The new ACP MKSAP CORE feature is one of ACP's responses to requests from internal medicine physicians for new ways to recognize their dedication to continual learning and assessment and to document their achievements in keeping up with changes in medical knowledge. More information is online.

ACP recognizes chapters with 2025 John Tooker Evergreen Awards

The John Tooker Evergreen Awards Program provides opportunities to recognize the valuable contributions of ACP chapters as they strive to enrich, educate, and engage membership. In 2025, ACP recognized nine winning chapters.

• Arizona and Nevada: Great Debates. The Arizona and Nevada Chapters' Great Debates engineered debates between residency teams to discuss controversial topics in medicine and better understand the duality of contentious practices. The tournament was composed of preliminary rounds at various state locations, culminating in a championship between finalists. In total, 13 debates have been held with 150 people in attendance across Arizona and Nevada.
• Maryland: Connecting and Supporting Through Stories: Monthly Story Swap. The Maryland Chapter developed monthly story swaps where volunteers shared anecdotal stories with audience support and interaction. Over the course of the 18 swaps to date, over 400 different individuals have participated at least once. Themes ranged from “Signature Strength at Work” to “We Are in This Together” to “Dealing with Difficult Colleagues.”
• Massachusetts: Annual Chapter Poster Competition: Increasing the Value for Trainees and Judges. The Massachusetts Chapter developed educational sessions for trainees on poster presentation skills, design techniques, how to address a judge's questions, and writing an abstract. Faculty judges underwent implicit bias training before the competition. As a result of the initiative, the number of posters submitted increased by 60% in addition to the number of faculty judges.
• Michigan: Increasing Membership and Pride of Being an Internal Medicine Specialist in Central and Latin America. Through the work of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) Committee, the Michigan Chapter identified residents, medical students, early career physicians, and international medical graduates who were in search of community and developed events adjacent to the Chapter meeting to meet these needs. Events like “Pub Trivia and Bat Away the Burnout,” a peer mentorship program, and affinity groups were organized to foster kinship among members.
• Nevada: Medical Education Community Faculty Development Program. Due to physician shortages, Nevada has seen significant growth in graduate medical education (GME) in community-based and university-affiliated programs over the past decade. In 2020, the Nevada Chapter developed a high-quality faculty development series to support community faculty in significant educator roles. The series was created to support faculty while also serving the needs of GME programs. The participants were ACP members and nonmembers, with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of medical education in any specialty. Seventeen sessions have been delivered since 2020 with 90 unique registrants.
• New York: Advocacy Engagement in 2024.With many legislative obstacles facing internal medicine and primary care physicians, the New York Chapter surveyed members to better understand the growing need to provide legislative topics that are important to members, educate members about the resolution process, and increase member participation in advocacy overall. The Chapter held an Advocacy Town Hall, identified communication improvements, and scheduled a resolution drafting workshop, resulting in three drafted resolutions and one submitted to ACP.
• South Carolina: ACP SC Ultrathon Conference. The South Carolina Chapter collaborated with the University of South Carolina Medical School–Columbia Ultrasound Interest Group to hold an event for those interested in POCUS, marking the first occasion in which the Chapter's resident committee coordinated an initiative on this scale. Specialists facilitated case-based scenarios to provide rich clinical experiences relevant to students, residents, internal medicine physicians, and specialists alike. ACP members at various career stages had the opportunity to participate as attendees, lecturers, station proctors, or volunteers.
• Wisconsin: The Advocacy Corner: Promoting and Highlighting ACP–Wisconsin Advocacy at ACP–Wisconsin Annual Scientific Meeting. The 2024 Advocacy Corner was developed to change the dynamic of advocacy work by the Wisconsin Chapter to highlight accomplishments of the Health and Public Policy Committee while encouraging state and national engagement by all Chapter members. The Advocacy Table included several interactive games and activities highlighting voting, the AIM Network, Medicaid expansion, period poverty, and the regressive state tax on menstrual products. Issue guides were created by committee members to educate all Chapter members on key topics related to state level policy and opportunities for advocacy.

ACP also awarded special recognition to the District of Columbia and Virginia chapters for collaborating to create a leadership development pathway for middle-career physicians to explore leadership opportunities, identify and define leadership styles, and develop the skills needed to expand leadership roles. The program built a pipeline of leaders for the D.C. and Virginia Chapters. The program conducted a six-webinar series curriculum to introduce the pillars of leadership over a 12-month period.