The AARC has launched its Virtual Lobby Week webpage in preparation for the AARC's 18th annual Capitol Hill Advocacy Day on April 4.
AARC and your state societies sponsor respiratory therapists who are your Political Advocacy Contact Team (PACT) representatives. These RT volunteers come to Washington, D.C. every year and have scheduled face-to-face meetings with the Congressional delegations from your state to advocate for legislation and policies that will positively impact the profession and the pulmonary patient. Because this year marked the start of a new Administration and the 115th Congress with Republicans in control, it is not clear what will happen with telehealth legislation moving forward. Therefore we will not be advocating for a specific bill this time around.
Our request this year is to include respiratory therapists in any telehealth legislation that is introduced into this Congress. We are also asking Congress to include language in the FY 2018 Labor-HHS Appropriations Report that would task the Medicare program to conduct an analysis of COPD claims data and report back to Congress on the findings which will help demonstrate the clinical expertise and value respiratory therapists bring to improving their patients’ health outcomes in a variety of settings.
Please participate in Virtual Lobby Week (March 20 – April 4) and make your PACT reps voice and message even stronger before they get to Capitol Hill. Sending a message is simple via AARC’s Capital Connection webpage and your participation supports the respiratory profession and the patients you serve.
For more details on the importance of AARC’s 2017 legislative agenda read our Frequently Asked Questions webpage.
Sincerely,
Frank R. Salvatore Jr., RRT MBA, FAARC
Immediate Past President, AARC
Co-Chair, Government Affairs Committee
Raymond Pisani, RRT
Co-Chair, Government Affairs Committee