The third of NPAF’s three Skilled Communications Workshops funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation took place in Philadelphia in partnership with the National Medical Association, the largest, oldest organization representing African-American physicians and their patients in the United States. The event brought together 35 NMA members representing a very broad, experienced and diverse group of practitioners with strong roots in their communities.. Edith Mitchell, MD, a clinical professor of medicine and program leader of gastrointestinal oncology at Thomas Jefferson University took the lead role in organizing the dinner meeting.
The participants opened the evening by talking about the challenges they face in providing high quality care to their patient communities, issues that go far beyond taking care of their patient’s medical conditions. Insurance coverage, high costs of care both resulting both from direct costs and those related to the impact of financial toxicity on people’s lives, immigration concerns are among the daily barriers to health care access that patients and their physicians confront.