OOSS to Partner with AAO on 2012 Congressional Advocacy Day

2012 Congressional Advocacy Day

On April 25-26, 2012, the Outpatient Ophthalmic Surgery Society will partner with the American Academy of Ophthalmology and 18 other ophthalmic subspecialty and specialized interest societies on Congressional Advocacy Day (CAD) in Washington DC.  By partnering with the AAO, OOSS hopes to strengthen ophthalmology’s presence on Capitol Hill, build support for ophthalmology’s shared key legislative priorities and ensure quality eye care for our patients.

 An evening briefing will be held Wednesday, April 25th at the Renaissance Downtown Hotel to provide CAD attendees with effective tips on lobbying and ophthalmology’s key legislative priorities.  On Thursday, April 26th, CAD registrants will attend meetings on Capitol Hill with their Senators and Representatives and/or their staff to present the concerns and positions of the profession.   These CAD visits will be scheduled by the Academy’s Washington D.C. staff.

 With the historic turnover after the 2010 elections, 2011 CAD participants panned out across Capitol Hill to educate more than 100 new members of Congress on the issues important to ophthalmology, including Medicare physician payment reform and repealing the flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR).  Academy members also used this opportunity to educate these new members and their staffs, many of whom were also new to Capitol Hill, on who provides eye care to their constituents, with ophthalmologists as leaders of the eye-care team.

 One of our most important 2011 CAD “asks” dealt with building support for H.R. 451, the Healthcare Truth and Transparency Act, which will ensure consumers receive accurate information about their health care providers. The Academy highlighted H.R. 451 during its 2011 CAD and the legislation picked up five new cosponsors the next day. To date 49 members of Congress have cosponsored H.R. 451.  We need a strong contingent of Eye M.D.s at the 2012 CAD to ensure ophthalmology’s voice on health care reform issues that will impact our patients and to continue to advocate for issues like H.R. 451 and a permanent SGR fix.

 Congressional Advocacy Day is a unique opportunity for Eye M.D.s to lobby members of Congress on the issues that affect ophthalmologists and our patients. There is no registration fee to participate in Advocacy Day and no prior lobbying experience is necessary.

 If you’re new to advocacy, you can sign up to be paired with a mentor when you register!  Online registration will open in January 2012 on the Academy’s website.

If you wish to stay on for the Mid-Year Forum sessions, the registration fee is $200 if you pre-register online before March 9, 2012.  After that, registration will be $250.  For more information about the Mid-Year Forum, please visit http://www.aao.org/meetings/myf or email Gabrielle Naughten at gnaughten@aao.org.