Coalitions

AAPM&R actively collaborates with several coalitions to advance the Academy’s policy, reimbursement and quality agenda, raise awareness of the specialty and enhance advocacy efforts to support rehabilitation research coordination and funding, PAC and Medicare payment reform, and access to rehabilitation and habilitation services and devices.

• The Alliance for Connected Care (the Alliance) is an organization that was formed to create a statutory and regulatory environment in which every provider in America is permitted to deliver and be adequately compensated for providing safe, high quality care using Connected Care at his or her discretion, regardless of care delivery location or technological modality. Members of the Alliance are leading companies from across the health care and technology spectrum, representing insurers, retail pharmacies, technology and telecommunications companies, and health care entrepreneurs. The Alliance is advised by a distinguished group of patient and provider advocacy organizations.
• The National Health Council (NHC) brings together all segments of the health community to provide a united voice for the more than 160 million people with chronic diseases and disabilities and their family caregivers.
• The Post-Acute Care (PAC) Coalition consists of national organizations and stakeholders, and affected consumer and provider groups.  Collectively, coalition organizations represent the entire continuum of the PAC sector and are leading efforts on responsible Medicare PAC reform
• The Coalition to Preserve Rehabilitation (CPR) is a coalition of 48 national consumer, clinician and membership organizations with the goal of preserving access to rehabilitation services.  CPR will advocate for policies that ensure access to rehabilitative care so that individuals with disabilities, injuries or chronic conditions may regain and/or maintain their maximum level of independent function.
• The Disability and Rehabilitation Research Coalition (DRRC) is a coalition of national non-profit organizations committed to improving the science of disability, independent living, and rehabilitation. The DRRC seeks to maximize the return on the federal investment in disability, independent living, and rehabilitation research and development with the goal of improving the ability of Americans with disabilities and chronic conditions to live and function as independently as possible and to contribute to the health and economic well-being of our nation. 
• The Independence Through Enhancement of Medicare and Medicaid (ITEM) Coalition is a consumer and clinician-led coalition of more than 75 national organizations advocating for access to and coverage of assistive devices, technologies, and related services for persons with injuries, illnesses, disabilities, and chronic conditions of all ages. Our members represent individuals with a wide range of disabling conditions, as well as the providers who serve them, including such conditions as multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, stroke, paralysis, limb loss, cerebral palsy, hearing and speech impairments, visual impairments, vision loss, spina bifida, myositis, and other life-altering conditions.
• The Habilitation Benefits (HAB) Coalition is a group of 42 national organizations who are independently active in their support for habilitative services and devices. The coalition coordinates, sustains and aggressively promotes a unified voice that has had, to date, a material impact on the contents of the federal guidance that states are using to make decisions involving EHB, particularly around habilitation benefits.
• The Consortium for Constituents with Disabilities (CCD) is the largest coalition of national organizations working together to advocate for Federal public policy that ensures the self-determination, independence, empowerment, integration and inclusion of children and adults with disabilities in all aspects of society free from racism, ableism, sexism, and xenophobia, as well as LGBTQ+ based discrimination and religious intolerance. 
• The National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) Coalition consists of patient advocacy and physician groups who support robust and sustained investment in biomedical research, and who collectively represent and serve more than 150 million Americans impacted by arthritis and musculoskeletal and skin diseases. The NIAMS has a three-pronged mission: to support research into the causes, treatment, and prevention of arthritis, musculoskeletal and skin diseases; to train the next generations of researchers; and to disseminate information about research progress. 
• The Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS)43 medical society members representing more than 790,000 U.S. physician members. CMSS member societies collaborate to enhance the quality of care delivered in the U.S. healthcare system and to improve the health of the public.
• The Multisociety Pain Workgroup (MPW) advocates for issues relevant to patients suffering from spine pathologies. The MPW represents 14 medical specialty societies, comprising of physicians who utilize surgical, interventional, and conservative treatment options to care for patients with back pain.

• The Regulatory Relief Coalition (RRC) is a group of national physician specialty organizations advocating for regulatory burden reduction in Medicare so that physicians can spend more time treating patients. The RRC’s focus has been common sense reform to streamline prior authorization in Medicare Advantage programs.