by Kim Templeton, MD, and Mary Anne McCaffree, MD, Chair of the NHCVA
AMWA has now joined as one of the members of the National Health Collaborative on Violence and Abuse (NHCVA). This important group composed of over 30 national health professions associations, including members from Kaiser Permanents, where Adverse Childhood Events were first described. The NHCVA is “dedicated to reducing and addressing the health consequences of intimate partner violence and abuse” across the lifespan. The staff for the NHCVA are from Futures Without Violence. The NHCVA works to address the health issues of victims of IPV and abuse and to identify and seek ways to address the causes of these behaviors through promotion of societal change. The NHCVA and its members educate policymakers through annual Congressional briefings, work on issues related to local and national health policy, and disseminate research and evidence-based practice through webinars and meetings. They are also looking into the development of screening tools that could be included into EHRs, similar to what has been developed by EPIC.
Please also find in this Newsflash a recent letter to Congress from the NHCVA, to which AMWA signed on, regarding the potential impact of proposed health care reform on access to care for victims of violence and their children. Areas addressed by the NHCVA that may be of particular interest to AMWA members include the potential of developing guidelines on postpartum depression guidelines and Alzheimer and violence, reducing firearm related injuries, as well as the NHCVA’s previous work on human trafficking. Considering the success of AMWA’s PATH program, developed by AMWA’s current president, Suzanne Harrison, human trafficking would seem to be an important area of collaboration with the Coalition. Priority topics for the NHCVA for 2018 to 2020 include improving health professionals’ education in violence prevention and response and supporting needed health care coverage for victims of violence. They have developed screening tools, which I am suggesting to my colleagues.
The NHCVA is holding their annual meeting in San Francisco, on September 27 and 28, with a pre-conference institute on September 26. Plenary topics for the meeting include “Where is Healthcare Going”, migration and violence, health solutions and response to child trauma, and anti-racism as a toll for violence prevention. Please see the meeting website, www.nchdv.org, for additional information. If you have any issues that you would like to bring to the attention of this group, please contact me at pastpresident@amwa-doc.org.
