Advocating for Patients and the Profession

This year, after a brief hiatus, APA members returned to Capitol Hill as constituent grass-roots lobbyists as part of APA’s Advocacy Day 2004. The 37 members who came to Washington, D.C., for the event received an intensive two days of information and training, culminating in a Capitol Hill lobbying blitz on March 23.

APA targeted four key committees of the U.S. Congress: the House committees on Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and Education and the Workforce; and the Senate Subcommittee on Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services.

These committees have jurisdiction over a host of APA strategic priorities, including nondiscriminatory coverage of mental illness treatment, Medicare’s discriminatory 50 percent coinsurance for outpatient psychiatric services, and confidentiality of patient medical records. Thus, APA participants targeted for their visits the senators and representatives who have a direct say on legislative matters of concern to psychiatrists and their patients.

Advocacy Day participants were primarily district branch legislative representatives and officers from the states whose congressional delegations are represented on the targeted House and Senate panels.

Participants were joined by several APA leaders, including APA President Marcia Goin, Assembly Speaker Prakash Desai, Speaker-elect James Nininger, Trustee Patrice Harris, Council on Advocacy and Public Policy Chair Jeremy Lazarus, Committee on Government Relations (CGR) Chair Tom Noyes, CGR Vice-Chair Dudley Stewart, Committee on Public Affairs Chair Mary Helen Davis, and APAPAC Chair John Wernert III (all M.D.s).

Key House and Senate staff “insiders” briefed participants on pending legislation and policy issues. Staffers on hand included Dean Rosen, health policy director to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.); Joel White, staff director of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee; Bridgett Taylor, key minority health policy staff to the House Energy and Commerce Committee; Liz Fowler, chief minority counsel for health to the Senate Finance Committee; Josh Sharfstein, M.D., minority staff professional to the House Committee on Government Reform; Michael Zamore, policy advisor to Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.); Karin Hope, legislative director to Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.); and Geoffrey Laredo, policy fellow to the Senate Subcommittee on Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services.

Debbie Curtis, chief of staff to Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.), and Priscilla Ross, legislative director to Rep. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), provided helpful perspectives on lobbying “dos and don’ts” to help APA members sharpen their lobbying skills before heading to the Hill.

Participants also heard a keynote address from House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who holds the third-highest rank in the House GOP leadership and is responsible for ensuring that the legislative priorities of the House leadership pass the House floor.

Stu Rothenberg, editor of the “Rothenberg Political Report,” also spoke, giving his assessment of the political climate in Washington and across the country.

Other highlights included a reception hosted by the APAPAC, which featured Reps. Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.) and Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), co-chairs of the House Mental Health Caucus.

APA’s 37 Advocacy Day participants made a total of 141 House and Senate office visits—almost all in a single afternoon—meeting with key Hill health staff and with 36 House and Senate members.

One immediate impact of their visits is a record number of cosponsors now supporting the Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act in both the Senate (69 cosponsors) and the House (245 cosponsors). ▪