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WASHINGTON, D.C.—“Regardless of where we are on the political spectrum, we have to get engaged,” said Sen. Tim Hutchinson, senior director, Greenberg Traurig LLP, Washington, D.C., speaking at the 2016 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting.
As a former U.S. senator from Arkansas, Sen. Hutchinson talked about the importance of members in such organizations as the ACR to seek out local, state and federal legislative representatives to advocate for the interests of one’s group and profession.
He also emphasized how easy it can be. But before laying out the ways for getting engaged in advocacy, he encouraged physicians, in particular, to play a more active role in the political arena. “Doctors vote less than any other professionals,” he said, emphasizing that this is not a helpful start to make an impact on public policy.
To help encourage more involvement, Sen. Hutchinson described eight tips for advocacy that all build on what is most fundamental about advocacy—building relationships.
Get Engaged in Advocacy
The first tip is to simply request a meeting with a representative in any level of government. “You have to ask for a meeting,” he said. “Don’t be intimidated.” Saying that many people are reluctant to ask for such a meeting, particularly at the federal level, Sen. Hutchinson emphasized how accessible most representatives are to such meetings.
Once a meeting is set up, the second tip is to offer the representative a real-life, patient perspective on the issue you are advocating for. “The ACR can provide evidentiary arguments,” he said, “but only doctors can talk about how the public policy affects their patients.”
The third tip is to get to know the staff members in district, state, and federal offices, as these are the people who provide access to the representative. Staff that are important to know include the chief of staff, the scheduler and the legislative director.
Tip four is to offer a site visit at your practice to show how rheumatologists serve patients, how practices operate and what they need..
For physicians who want to get engaged on a more regular basis, they can offer to be a part of an advisory committee or act as an advisor to a representative on a healthcare issue (tip five). They can also stay engaged by regularly sending emails to staffers on issues they are concerned about (tip six).
For even more committed advocacy work, Senator Hutchinson said that attending or hosting a fundraiser is a way to strengthen a relationship (tip seven), as can volunteering on a campaign (tip eight). In terms of monetary support for building a relationship, Sen. Hutchinson said that expanding the support for a lawmaker, such as hosting a fundraiser and recruiting friends to come, is more important than giving a lot of money to the lawmaker or candidate.
After his talk, Senator Hutchinson spoke during the question/answer period about the need to understand how the majority party in Congress thinks in order to frame effective arguments. Again, he emphasized that the success of advocacy depends on building strong relationships, and part of this relies on knowing how to talk to representatives.
‘You have to ask for a meeting,’ Sen. Hutchinson said. ‘Don’t be intimidated.’ Saying that many people are reluctant to ask for such a meeting, particularly at the federal level, Sen. Hutchinson emphasized how accessible most representatives are to such meetings.
Advocacy From Home
Another easy, but effective, way for physicians and other healthcare providers to participate in advocacy is through social media. Saying that nearly 100% of all lawmakers and their staffs use social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter, Kristen Burke, Schmidt Public Affairs, emphasized how easy it is to stay abreast of policy issues with social media as well as how easy and quick it is to use this medium for advocacy.
For physicians who are new to using social media for advocacy, she encouraged them to check out the ACR’s Legislative Action Center. Revamped this past year, the Center allows for members to easily engage in advocacy efforts by signing up for email updates or alerts on these efforts.
“This is a great place to get started for advocacy on behalf of rheumatology as an ACR member,” she said, strongly encouraging doctors to sign up for alerts through the Center that prompt physicians when action is needed. Through the Center, physicians can also find the names of lawmakers, look up legislation and make contact with their lawmakers on issues they are concerned about.
To show how easy it is to engage in advocacy through social media, she walked participants through steps to downloading an app called VoterVoice that the ACR uses for advocacy. Through the app, physicians can easily stay up to date on the ACR’s current advocacy priorities, follow lawmakers on their views of the issues, and send messages advocating for action on issues of particular concern. The app can be found in the Apple or Google stores.
Ms. Burke emphasized that using social media for advocacy requires building relationships, and similar to all types of relationship building, it takes time. She offered a couple of tips for fostering relationship building through social media, including making sure to use the correct social media contact information for the person you are trying to develop a relationship with. For example, she said that many lawmakers will have several Twitter accounts and that the best account to use to reach them for advocacy is the account they use in their office (vs., say, the account they use for campaigning). Another tip is to follow hashtags, a way of grouping tweets around specific content, with content that you are interested in.
William Harvey, MD, MSc, then ACR Government Affairs chair, who moderated the session, emphasized the importance of social media as a tool for advocacy. “This is one of the best ways we help you [our members] connect to issues we are all working on through the ACR,” he said.
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