Dr. Dan Derksen highlights three urgent tasks for family physicians and public health advocates that must be accomplished for the Affordable Care Act to be effective in the current issue of the Annals of Family Medicine.

Dan Derksen, MD

Drawing on his experience researching and drafting health workforce provisions that ended up in the Affordable Care Act, Daniel Derksen, MD, a University of Arizona professor of public health policy and management at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, outlines the opportunities for family physicians in the current issue of the Annals of Family Medicine.

In the article, The Affordable Care Act: Unprecedented Opportunities for Family Physicians and Public Health, Dr. Derksen highlights three urgent tasks for family physicians and public health advocates that must be accomplished for the ACA to be effective.

First, he calls for the development of new health care delivery models emphasizing integrated, community-based care, and the expansion of primary care training programs to ensure access for the 25 million uninsured who gain coverage. Additionally, he calls for active outreach efforts to help the eligible uninsured population enroll for coverage, with particular emphasis on rural and medically underserved areas and populations. Lastly, he calls on policymakers to ensure prevention, public health and primary care are adequately funded. He asserts that family physicians and public health advocates are uniquely positioned to play a key leadership role in addressing these challenges.