AGA - American Gastroenterological Association Inc.
10/01/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 10/01/2024 14:16
Our biggest turnout ever for Advocacy Day!
It's critical to bring the voice of gastroenterology to Capitol Hill to make a real difference in legislation that affects patient care. That's why we gathered our leaders from across the United States in Washington, D.C., to meet with congressional offices during our annual Advocacy Day last week.
GIs from California to Massachusetts and many states in between met with House and Senate offices to educate members of Congress and their staff members about the most critical policy issues impacting you and your patients.
Our members and patient advocates were more than 100 people strong on Capitol Hill - our biggest turnout yet for Advocacy Day!
In total, 28 states were represented and we attended more than 100 meetings in 64 different districts, which was a mix of both Republican and Democrat offices.
Members were grouped by their state of residence and had the opportunity to collaborate with fellow GIs on how to best convey the importance of issues like prior authorization, step therapy, Medicare reimbursement and digestive disease research funding to their lawmakers' offices.
For the second year in a row, we were fortunate to be joined by GI patient advocates as well.
Eight patient advocates participated in Advocacy Day.
Michelle Pickens, Kelly Dwyer, Latonia Ward, Amber Tresca, Demi D. Ricario, Grady Stewart, Joshua Denton and Mara Shapiro shared personal stories about the challenges they encountered in the health care system, and the negative effects to their wellbeing and quality of life due to red tape caused by prior authorization and step therapy.
The in-person advocacy of our members and patient advocates makes a difference.
In one of AGA President Dr. Maria Abreu's meetings, the congressional staffer remembered that he met with her, Dr. Mel Wilcox and a patient advocate during last year's Advocacy Day and recounted the impact of their conversation about delays to timely access to care for IBD medication.
Numerous GIs had similar experiences on Advocacy Day and recounted the benefits of being able to walk into House and Senate offices and educate congressional offices on the issues they're experiencing in their clinic or lab.
Being able to start these conversations about health care and GI and build these relationships showcases the value of Advocacy Day and how AGA works with members to make it easy to advocate for the issues important to them.
We were able to have a full day of constructive meetings with lawmakers and their staff thanks to members and patient advocates. Thank you for being engaged and using your voices to protect GI patient care!
Check out a photo and social media recap of the day below.