On Jan. 26, the AAMC sent a letter to members of Congress in support of the "Health Partnership Act," which would establish a new grant funding mechanism for state, local and American Indian health coverage initiatives. The legislation is intended to promote the development of innovative coverage strategies, and it would establish a "State Health Innovation Commission" to identify how these strategies could be implemented nationally. In the letter, AAMC President Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., said the legislation provides a unique opportunity to develop and evaluate state initiatives to cover the uninsured and provides policy makers "valuable information and insight as they work toward health-care reform at the federal level." For more information, please visit

http://www.aamc.org/advocacy/library/
teachhosp/corres/2007/012307.pdf.