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Collaborating with like-minded organizations creates a stronger voice.

| March 18, 2019

Collaborating with like-minded organizations creates a stronger voice.

We are a small specialty with a big voice, especially when we join with like-minded organizations to express our views on issues of importance and work on projects that benefit from joint efforts. The College collaborates with AAAAI, American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American Thoracic Society (ATS), CHEST and others on a variety of advocacy and member initiatives. 

Our collaboration with the AAAAI is strong. We want to be sure we are working together on projects of joint interest, such as our new Joint Task Force on Telemedicine, the long-standing Joint Task Force on Practice Parameters, the joint annual Program Directors Assembly Winter Meeting and biennial Joint Board Review Course. These are all very successful programs. 

Most recently, we co-signed a letter to House Appropriations Leadership to request food allergy research be prioritized at the National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense in the fiscal year 2020 appropriations.

We are currently working together to prepare testimony for three allergists to present at an upcoming FDA Pulmonary-Allergy Drugs Advisory Committee Hearing related to an NDA for PRE-PEN Plus.

When we became aware the Ohio Epinephrine Accessibility Act had passed earlier this year, we worked together with the Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus Allergy Societies to send a joint letter to the State Medical Board of Ohio and the State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy expressing our concerns and encouraging them to put safeguards in place. The Act enables Ohio pharmacists to: 1) renew epinephrine autoinjector prescriptions without physician authorization; and 2) substitute a different brand or generic autoinjector, provided they do so in accordance with a protocol that is yet to be developed by the State Board of Pharmacy in consultation with the State Medical Board of Ohio.

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The College joined the AAP, and other like-minded medical organizations, to support the reauthorization of the Pediatric Subspecialty Loan Repayment Program which would provide $35,000 in loan repayment per year – for up to three years – in exchange for serving in an under-served area.

We recently signed onto an ATS letter to CEO’s of retail drug store chains encouraging them to keep the recently FDA approved OTC inhaled epinephrine HFA (Primatene Mist HFA) behind the counter to help reduce inappropriate use and protect patients from adverse events.

Our most recent efforts with CHEST include endorsing a series of cough guidelines that are published in the CHEST Journal.

We are all in this together and together we can accomplish even more.

Todd Mahr, MD, FACAAI
College president

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