On the Horizon
The ACR is far from finished lobbying legislators regarding these issues and others. Participants in September 2018’s event also advocated for Congress to address step therapy, the decline in DXA scans and dedicated arthritis research funding at the DoD. In April, the ACR led 25 patient and provider organizations in urging the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to address an issue with step therapy.
Mr. Cooper encouraged rheumatologists and others to get involved this year, expecting legislation to stall next year—a major election year. He hopes rheumatologists from every state and the District of Columbia will attend September’s event; he and Dr. Worthing suggested members also send messages to lawmakers via the ACR’s Legislative Action Center. “[Staffers] do track those,” Cooper said.
“It’s always a great opportunity to have rheumatologists and their constituents … share examples of how specifically this [legislation] will help patients,” he said. “I think those examples and those [patient] stories really help.”
Said Dr. Worthing, “Rheumatologists know we need to raise our voices, and there’s a very strong sense that advocating for our patients and our profession is critical, and Congress is receptive to hearing from us.”
Ryan Basen is a journalist in the Washington, D.C., area.
