What Makes the LeadingAge Policy Team So Successful

December 09, 2024

BY Katie Smith Sloan

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The 12 members of LeadingAge's policy team are experienced, intelligent, deliberate, collaborative, enthusiastic, and a little obsessed, writes President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan.

If you attended the Special Post-Election National Policy Pulse briefing with the LeadingAge Policy Team on November 18, you likely walked away with a clear picture of the unique characteristics that make our advocacy experts so successful in the work they do for you.

During the one-hour call, the policy team provided LeadingAge members with meticulous reports about the post-election landscape in Washington, DC, including detailed analyses of who will likely ascend to leadership positions in Congress and how their past actions may predict their responses to our policy-related priorities.

In keeping with LeadingAge's role as a nonpartisan organization, the call featured no personal or political opinions-only facts. Many, many, many facts.

Senior Vice President of Policy and Advocacy Linda Couch views every election, no matter its outcome, as a valuable opportunity to reinvigorate LeadingAge's policy and advocacy work. So, when the polls closed on November 5, the policy team immediately began reassessing our strategies and evaluating the new opportunities and potential roadblocks before us, given the election results.

Our policy positions will not change, but the team's ongoing assessment will shape our messages as we get to know a new Congress and administration and introduce them to LeadingAge. At this early stage, it's all about building relationships and providing education, always with a clear understanding of our members' current and future needs.

At the heart of this biannual process are 12 individuals you can count on to fight relentlessly for you in Washington. Here's what makes our team so successful:

They are recognized experts in our field. Each team member has extensive expertise in a specific service line, such as housing, nursing homes, home health, hospice, Medicaid home and community-based services, life plan communities, legal issues, workforce, managed care/Medicare Advantage, assisted living, Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), or adult day services.

They are smart and, perhaps, a bit obsessed. Policy team members push themselves with unmatched rigor to understand the issues facing LeadingAge members and the highly complicated programs designed to address those issues. As November's Pulse Call illustrated so clearly, the team members' curiosity about, commitment to, and passion for aging services are inexhaustible. They know more about policies, programs, and legislation than anyone I know. And they're not shy about using that knowledge to advocate for you and the people you serve.

They don't work in isolation. Not a day goes by that team members are not meeting with one another or with Linda Couch to discuss their work and explore how it intersects with what others are doing. The team's collaborative efforts include reaching out to LeadingAge members, who we rely on to tell us about their challenges. Team members also work closely with myriad outside organizations on coalitions, campaigns, work groups, subcommittees, boards, and advisory committees. There are many moving parts, and our team is adept at managing them all.

They are deliberate. Our policy team takes a highly deliberate approach to its day-to-day advocacy work. Team members persistently track regulations and bills. They work steadily to develop meaningful relationships with congressional and agency staff. They interact regularly with member networks. They take a careful and collaborative approach to deciding how to spend their time and energy. This systematic approach has earned them much respect in Washington and across the nation.

They enjoy themselves. Linda Couch tells me that team members have the most fun when they get to "ring the continuum bell." When the team encounters an issue affecting members across service settings, it pulls together enthusiastically to simultaneously press multiple government agencies and offices to take needed action.

They are thinking about you. The next few months will be a transition period for all of us, regardless of our political persuasions. As you navigate this transition, remember that 12 LeadingAge policy experts spend their entire days thinking-sometimes obsessively-about you and working feverishly to ensure your organization has the support it needs to fulfill its mission.

The message is clear. You are not alone. We are there for you.

Call on us anytime.