Left: Dr. Louise Moody, far left, and fellow primary care physicians with Senator Cardin.
Right: Dr. Moody and Ray Thorn, Representative Van Hollen’s legislative assistant for health care.

Louise Moody, M.D, partner in Secure Medical Care, joined fellow other primary care physicians from the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area to lobby on Capitol Hill for health care reform during the recent Family Medicine Congressional Conference (FMCC), held May 11-12, 2009. Maryland Senator Benjamin L. Cardin and his staff met with the physicians and listened as they presented their plan for expanding primary care services to all Americans. In addition, Dr. Moody met with Maryland Congressman Christopher Van Hollen and his staff to inform them of the special issues surrounding primary and urgent care medicine. Sponsored by the American Academy of family Physicians (AAFP) and Academic Family Medicine Advocacy Alliance (AFMAA), FMCC educates participants on family medicine’s legislative priority issues, trains attendees on how to lobby on Capitol Hill, and allows participants to put these skills to use with federal legislators and their staff. Advocacy is a high priority of AAFP and the AFMAA organizations; every family physician and educator can learn how to be effective in Washington and at home.