The principal function of the Health Policy Committee is to serve as a resource for the staff of the ATS Government Relations Office and to advise the ATS Executive Committee and Board of Directors on issues of policy importance and priorities for ATS action. The Health Policy Committee strives to achieve health equity, and advocates for improved health and access to care for patients with critical illnesses and pulmonary and sleep-related conditions. It monitors federal healthcare legislation, policies, and regulations and provides federal agencies with expert knowledge to assist their efforts to improve the provision, funding, and coverage of services and support the prevention of respiratory disease. The Committee periodically develops position statements on proposed or existing federal healthcare policies when appropriate. Finally, the Health Care Policy Committee also reviews federal policies regarding pulmonary and critical care workforce needs and provides expert opinions in coordination with the Council of Chapter Representatives.

Benchmarks, 2024-2025:
▪ Apply equity, diversity, and inclusion lenses to all committee activities, advocacy recommendations and publications in particularly including member participation and impact of potential changes on health equity.
▪ Monitor key health policy issues, establish ATS positions and priorities, and develop new programs to educate and inform members about the impact of government policy on health care; provide expertise to the ATS Executive Committee to support advocacy response efforts
▪ Partner with ATS Publications, Web Editor and appropriate staff to inform ATS membership about health policy issues relevant to our pulmonary, critical care and sleep membership, including Annals ATS and ATS Scholar articles, periodic announcements (such as the Washington Letter), web offerings, webinars or podcasts.
▪ Work with the ATS Government Relations Office and other advocacy committees to establish advocacy priorities for virtual Hill Day, District Advocacy Activities and future ATS International Conferences. Invite speakers from Congressional offices, federal agencies and other organizations to attend virtual meetings of the committee to provide insight on matters of relevance and interest to Committee members.
▪ Explore opportunities for collaboration with the International Health Committee to develop policy priorities regarding advocacy for global lung, sleep health and critical care services with an emphasis on preventive and treatment services in developing and under-developed healthcare settings; partner with the Environmental Health Policy and Health Equity and Diversity committees to address systemic inequities such as environmental influences on health outcomes; race based disparities of care, culturally and linguistically competent health care and the demonstrated impacts of implicit bias and microaggressions throughout health care
▪ Work with ATS state advocacy staff to collaborate with CCR, PAR, relevant ATS committees and peer organizations (including ALA) to develop strategies to monitor state level legislative and regulatory activity and contribute expertise to support state level advocacy efforts.
▪ Collaborate across advocacy related committees to educate the membership about ATS advocacy efforts, monitor ATS advocacy metrics, and foster increased engagement in advocacy among early career ATS members.
▪ Coordinate at least yearly meetings with the ATS FIRS representative to provide committee with an update on FIRS activities and identify opportunities for collaborative efforts and with the ATS representatives to the American Medical Association House of Delegates to provide the committee with an update on AMA activities and policies and identify opportunities for collaborative efforts.
▪ Work with International Conference Committee Program Committee and ATS staff to develop symposia workshops and other educational content to be presented at the ATS International Conference, including the Fellows Track Symposium, Center for Career Development, and the Student Scholars Program with the goal of having at least one IC symposium with substantial health policy content and one policy related session as part of an ancillary program (FTS, Bootcamp, Student Scholars, etc.).
▪ Create a subcommittee to identify and recommend to the HPC a diverse slate of candidates for the ATS Respiratory Health Awards.
▪ This committee is responsible for reviewing content it has previously posted to the ATS website to determine if it should be updated and moved to the new site or archived/deleted. Using parameters established by the ATS Digital Content Committee as a guideline, committee members will make necessary modifications to ensure the content is accurate and conforms with established ATS standards. Reviews are to be completed by December 1, 2024.