ADVOCACY COMMITTEE REACHES GOAL!
By Amy Barron, Platinum Ambassador, OH Advocacy Committee
I am privileged to serve as a member of the Arthritis Foundation’s Ohio State Advocacy Committee. Advocacy committees like mine help to chart the course of local and state-wide advocacy action for our arthritis community. Many of our committee members serve as Arthritis FoundationAdvocatesandAmbassadors, at both the state and federal level.
在我们的倡导委员会制定2018年的目标时，我们的主席Carol Arbaczewski提醒我们:“我们的目标应该是我们强烈感到并愿意承担的目标。”限制使用一种被称为步骤疗法的保险做法是关节炎基金会在州和联邦层面的优先事项，也是我们都很热衷的一个问题。Step therapy, also known as “fail first protocol,” is when an insurer requires patients to try a less expensive treatment, or series of treatments, before they can access the medication their physician deems most effective.
Many states have enacted legislation that limits step therapy. In 2017, the first ever federal bill to address step therapy was introduced to Congress by Representatives Brad Wenstrup (R-OH-2) and Raul Ruiz (D-CA-36). The Congressmen looked at the successful state legislation as a model for introducing H.R. 2077, the Restoring the Patient’s Voice Act. As physicians, both Congressman Wenstrup and Ruiz have seen firsthand how step therapy can negatively impact the patient-physician relationship and knew that limiting step therapy was a bipartisan issue.
国会议员Wenstrup说，“医生应该在给病人开药物方面有最终决定权，而不是那些甚至没有见过病人的人。让我们保持医疗保健以病人为中心!”
The Ohio Advocacy Committee came up with the idea to have an Advocate Webinar to discuss the federal step therapy bill, The Restoring the Patient’s Voice Act of 2017, with Ohio Representative Rep. Brad Wenstrup (OH-D-2) as a guest speaker. It would be informative for not only Arthritis Foundation Advocates, but for advocates from other coalitions which are supporting this important piece of legislation.
The next step was to see if we could secure Rep. Wenstrup as a guest speaker. The Congressman and I have known each other for years. He was my physician, was influential in guiding my son toward podiatry school, and is my parents’ representative. Ironically, he was the speaker at a local event I was attending. I thanked him for introducing step therapy legislation at the federal level, and asked him if he would be the guest speaker for ourAdvocate Webinar Series.
He readily agreed and suggested I contact his scheduler. Working through my staff contact at his Cincinnati office, I was introduced to the scheduler in his DC office. We were able to coordinate a time and date for the webinar. Our goal had been reached!
Our advocacy committee is proud that we were able to secure Rep. Wenstrup as a guest speaker for our Webinar on Step Therapy. Being a part of the advocacy committee is a really rewarding part of my personal arthritis advocacy. You can get involved in your state’s advocacy committee by reaching out to theState Director that covers your state!
If you have experienced step therapy you cantake action todayto share your story and be a patient voice calling on Congress to limit the use of this practice. The more we raise our voices together, the louder our message to elected officials will be!
Related Resources:
- Ambassador Spotlight – Lori Fagan, Virginia
- Platinum Ambassador Spotlight – Rebecca Gillett, Colorado
- Junior Ambassador Spotlight – Ethan Berkovitz