Advocacy Summit 2010 - Report
Lisa Johnson Williams, CMT, AHDI-F - AHDI Director, Board Partner for TEXAS
The year 2010 marks my third year participating in the AHDI/MTIA Advocacy Summit. Each year has been an incredible, unique experience, and getting better and better each year. What a privilege it is to walk the halls of the Congressional office buildings, meet with legislative aides who truly want to hear what we have to say, and to even occasionally meet with a congressman or senator.
The Advocacy Summit is three busy, challenging days, beginning with registration and orientation on Tuesday evening. We have been fortunate to have the services of a respected lobbying firm, Dewey Square Group, this year, establishing the groundwork and setting appointments. Dewey Square principals, Scott Shalett and Jason Eberstein, led the briefing and orientation, giving us guidelines on how to avoid the hot topics, such as the health care bill and how to stay on point when and if the topic comes up. We were given handouts with concise talking points, neatly summing up the message we were there to convey. The beauty of the Advocacy Summit is we don’t go for the purpose of presenting a lengthy, difficult debate; we are there simply to deliver a brief message on the still unresolved definition of “meaningful use” as it pertains to the HITECH Act, and the importance of the narrative dictation in the permanent patient medical record. “Meaningful use” affects the integrity of the permanent medical record. Our message on Capitol Hill was to advocate and ensure the structured patient narrative remained preserved in the marketplace with the move to the electronic medical record.
The day of visits to Capitol Hill began early Wednesday with our journey to our first stop, a constituent coffee with Senator David Vitter of Louisiana. A very special element of this year’s Advocacy Summit was being set up in groups of six or so, encompassing three states, instead of strictly with our home states. This was remarkable because it gave us far more exposure for our message. My group covered my own home state of Texas as well as Louisiana and Georgia. We were fortunate to have obtained ten appointments in addition to the constituent coffee with Senator Vitter. The benefit of ten stops also gave us the opportunity to refine the message and anchor the presentation so that by the last few stops, we knew what we wanted to say and were aware of what worked and what did not. After comparing notes with other Advocacy Summit participants, it was even more evident that we were fortunate to have visits with legislative aides who were engaged and were on board with what we had to say. Questions were asked and comments made showing the legislative aides were educated; if they did not know what brought us to Washington, DC, they knew by the time we left their offices.
The Advocacy Summit can be hard work. There is a lot of walking, from one end of Capitol Hill to the other, sometimes in a very short timeframe to make appointments, thinking on your feet to be able to answer questions quickly during the meetings.
More than anything, Advocacy Summit is enormous fun. It is a unique opportunity to be vocal and passionate about the relevance of the work we do as medical transcriptionists. Our elected officials are there to hear us and to support us. Our message is one that is truly a pleasure and an honor to deliver. We are a green profession, with 78% of our workforce working from home. It is estimated we comprise over 300,000 working transcriptionists, 98% of whom are women. The importance of the working mother, the benefit of the green aspect, plus the sheer number of individuals who work in our field make us worth listening to. The secret of going to Capitol Hill is If you believe in your message, it is just a matter of delivering what you believe to people who represent your home state, who just get up and get dressed and go to work every day, the same as you do.
Just when you think you can’t walk another step or deliver another message, the day is over and it’s time to return to the hotel for the closing reception and debriefing. There are some great stories as everyone relives the day just past; notes are compared and the inevitable good points and bad are discussed.
The third day of the Advocacy Summit was a great opportunity to slow down and listen to speakers on the current issues facing health care and healthcare documentation, earning continuing education credits. This year was a treat, as we had speakers including Cynthia Brown, Vice President, Government Affairs, American Medical Association. Following Ms. Brown was Lisa Grabert, Senior Associate Director, Policy, of the American Hospital Association. Lastly, we had a presentation by Christine Bechtel, Vice President of the National Partnership for Women and Families.
Our message delivered on Capitol Hill is one of the relevance and necessity of the medical transcription profession in the establishment of the electronic medical record, but it is only as strong as the collective efforts of each one of us, regardless of our role in the health care delivery system.
