Advocacy Update April 2025

The first quarter of 2025 has brought major shifts in federal health policy. As new leadership and initiatives take shape, ACLM is actively engaging to ensure that lifestyle medicine remains part of the national conversation.

By ACLM Jean Tips
Senior Director of Communications & Public Affairs

April 16, 2025

Political Climate—By Bob Siggins and Susan Benigas

The first quarter of 2025 was clearly one for the history books.  We witnessed the swearing in of a President to a non-consecutive second term for only the second time in our history, followed by a blizzard of Executive Orders (EOs) and more recently layoffs of roughly 25% of all HHS employees and a full reorganization of the department, including the creation of the Administration for a Healthy America.

 In addition, we have seen the confirmation of all the major players on the Administration’s health care team including:

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz
FDA Director Dr. Marty Makary
NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya

Among the EOs was one issued on February 13th announcing the formation of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission, made up of a wide range of agency officials.  This group will be tasked with helping to create and implement Secretary Kennedy’s MAHA agenda. Its first assignment is the development of two reports on the childhood chronic disease epidemic, the first one due 100 days, May 23.    

ACLM has met with the senior staff in the White House and HHS who are tasked with leading the MAHA Commission, as well as with senior NIH officials who are keen on addressing our nation’s epidemic of chronic disease. 

Since its inception, ACLM has been on a bipartisan mission to advance lifestyle medicine root cause treatment to rein in our nation’s unsustainable chronic disease trajectory and the associated costs.  Needless to say, we are knocking on every door and offering our subject matter experts (ACLM leaders), years of expertise, and plethora of chronic disease treatment, remission and prevention medical education and patient-facing resources in support of the Make America Healthy Again agenda. 

As part of our on-going advocacy work, ACLM’s president, Dr. Padmaja Patel, is helping to lead discussions with senior officials at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) about the suggested development of new payment models to support the clinical care models necessary to achieve long-term health restoration for patients with chronic disease.

 Many have observed that the MAHA movement, generally, and Secretary Kennedy, in particular, have focused most of their attention on food policy within USDA jurisdiction and issues in the FDA jurisdiction including food labeling ingredients, which are all important issues that have ACLM’s full support.  As a vital companion to this, ACLM will continue to be a strong advocate working to ensure an equal focus on reorienting our healthcare system to a new standard of care that leads with evidence-based therapeutic lifestyle intervention that will enable treatment, remission/reversal and prevention of already existing chronic disease.

Boiling down to three advocacy issues, it’s essential that lifestyle medicine, including optimal nutrition, be fully integrated into medical education, across the entire continuum, from UME and GME to CME.  We must address misaligned quality measures, so root cause treatment that results in medication de-escalation and disease remission are incentivized and rewarded, while we also advocate for alternative payment models that support the needed scalability of interdisciplinary clinical practice teams and both virtual and in-person lifestyle medicine shared medical appointments.   

SIGN-ON LETTERS—ACLM signed on to:

The National Drinking Water Alliance’s letter to HHS that the 2025-2030 edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans specifically recommend plain drinking water as the primary beverage for people to consume, and to add a symbol for water to the MyPlate graphic.

The AMA’s letter to Congressional leaders to include in the forthcoming March 2025 appropriations bill, provisions that both reverse the latest round of Medicare payment cuts and provide physicians with a meaningful payment increase that reflects ongoing inflationary pressures.

FEDERAL BILLS TO WATCH

The Personal Health Investment Today (PHIT) Act was re-introduced, which would allow Americans to use pre-tax dollars from Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) to cover fitness expenses—including gym memberships, fitness classes, youth sports fees, and equipment.

HR 1978 – Directs the Secretary of Defense to develop a strategy to treat obesity as a disease and reduce the prevalence of obesity in the Armed Forces.

STATE BILLS TO WATCH

Texas Senate Bill 25: Make Texas Healthy Again was passed unanimously by the Texas Senate. It requires food labels to warn Texas consumers which ingredients are banned in other countries starting in 2027. SB 25 also requires daily physical education for students from kindergarten to eighth grade and prohibits the removal of recess, physical education, and sports practice for disciplinary reasons. Additionally, the bill requires nutrition education for students in Texas high schools and institutions of higher learning, along with updated nutrition training for all Texas physicians, medical residents, nurses, physician assistants, and medical students.

Oklahoma Senate Bill 806: the Food is Medicine Act is ready for a vote. The measure directs the Oklahoma Health Care Authority to seek any necessary federal approval to provide coverage for nutrition supports using the state Medicaid program. Nutrition services shall include case management, nutrition counseling, meals or pantry stocking, nutrition prescriptions, and groceries. This measure also directs the State Department of Education to provide technical assistance with applying for grants and administering programs that expand student access to fresh, healthy food.

Practice Advancement

ACLM is working hard to advance payment and quality measure alignment on behalf of our members among a variety of stakeholders through various departments and our Clinical Practice and Quality Committee, led by ACLM President Dr. Padmaja Patel. In addition to conversations with CMMI as mentioned above, ACLM engages with a variety of national stakeholder groups including but not limited to those listed below.