By Anna Horner | News & Views
Attending AACVPR’s annual Day on the Hill (DOTH) is something that requires not only the budget and time for travel but also a substantial amount of upfront strategic planning. Lorri Lee, MHA, BS, CCRP, CEP, FAACVPR, of Texas; Megan Burg, ACSM-CEP, AACVPR-CCRP, of Illinois; and Jacob Stone, MS, CSCS, CCRP, of Kentucky, offer helpful insights to help those who have never attended but want to clear their calendars for next year’s event. They explain the preparations that are necessary to get the most out of DOTH, highlight resources provided by AACVPR and its state affiliates, and discuss how to make the biggest impact regardless of the number of members attending from a particular state.
The Planning Process
Lee, who is the Medicare Administrator Contract (MAC) Liaison for Texas, and other members of the MAC Liaison Committee for the state divide up the list of congressional offices to make appointments for DOTH. “We try to tackle as many as we can, but we do prioritize the congressional members who are on the Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees,” the 15-time DOTH attendee explained. “This year we had 15 congressional members on some of those key committees with jurisdiction over the legislation, so that's where our efforts have focused.”
Burg, a three-time DOTH attendee, said the Illinois delegation also takes the divide-and-conquer approach when it comes to making appointments. She explained that those who had attended DOTH previously and were in contact with a specific congressional office reached out for an appointment this year.
AACVPR’s state affiliates played important roles in DOTH, especially in terms of budgeting for members’ travel. Stone said, “We have DOTH in our travel budget, but it had been difficult for members to attend in the past as it’s generally the same weekend as our state conference. This year we moved the conference, which allowed me to attend, and I think that's something we're going to continue.” Lee added, “DOTH is something that’s usually well supported financially by our affiliate, and it’s important for affiliates to make sure that the budget is there to help support attendance.”
Burg noted that at the Illinois Society for Cardiopulmonary Health & Rehabilitation’s Board of Directors annual meeting in the fall, the President will ask whether anyone is interested in attending DOTH. Meanwhile, information about the event is presented throughout the year, allowing members to keep abreast of current legislative issues of importance. “The constant emails and alerts keep us up to date and help us prepare,” she said.
AACVPR Is Here to Help
AACVPR also offers several helpful resources, with an entire webpage devoted to DOTH, current legislative priorities, and talking points for meeting with congressional staffers. Once a member registers to attend the event, they receive important communications that help with setting appointments and understanding the layout of Capitol Hill to ensure they set aside enough time to travel from meeting to meeting.
As a first-time DOTH attendee, Stone said the packet provided prior to DOTH, which included talking points, was especially helpful in preparing what he wanted to say during his appointments and getting comfortable with the information. Lee was a big fan of the guides and videos, which she said were useful in explaining “the reality that you're not going to meet with a congressional member; you're going to meet with a staffer.” She said the resources even explained how to navigate Washington, D.C., which can bring many people as much anxiety as the meetings themselves. Further, Lee said AACVPR’s decision to hold its Board meeting in D.C. this year helped bolster DOTH participation. “That was a smart choice, and it allowed us to have two members in attendance this year,” she explained. Lee, pictured left (second from left) was accompanied by first-time attendee and AACVPR Board of Directors member Salim Street, M.Ed., CSCS (on right).
Size Doesn’t Matter
AACVPR members can have a successful DOTH experience regardless of the size of their state’s delegation. Stone and Lee had members of Congress sign on to a least one of the bills supported by AACVPR despite Stone being the lone Kentucky representative and Lee making up one-half of a two-person team. Both also prefer being part of a smaller group. “Being by myself, I felt like I was able to talk a little more openly about the bills, and I enjoyed less formality to ask and answer questions,” Stone said.
As a veteran DOTH participant, Lee has attended as part of a large group as well as on her own. “It’s good when you’re the only one speaking because you can lay out your story and your plan to execute all your points in the order that makes sense. And you can execute that over and over again,” she said. “But when you have a varying group at different meetings, you have to strategize in terms of who’s going to talk about what so you’re not wasting everyone’s time by repeating yourself.” However, Lee acknowledged the benefits of a larger group being able to split up the meetings.
The most important thing, Lee said, is that the member attending the meeting is a constituent or carries a lot of weight in the state affiliate or the organization they are representing. This was key in one of Stone’s meetings, where he wasn’t a constituent but benefited from working for the biggest health system in Kentucky, with a presence in every county in the state.
Meanwhile, Burg, pictured right (on right), prefers being part of a bigger delegation, with Illinois sending a total of five members this past March. She cited the benefit of diverse perspectives and “giving a voice in numbers.” According to Burg, “It really makes a big difference when you show up with more than just one or two people in the meeting. Ultimately, you’re able to kick ideas off each other because, for us, we’re representing the entire state.” She added, “With one person, that’s a lot of information to have to remember and to repeat, so it’s nice when you’re able to split that up and get a lot more done in the time that you’re there.”
All three attendees had positive experiences, but the work doesn’t end with DOTH. Burg said the Illinois delegation uses a Google doc to input notes from their meetings and track their follow-up communications with the congressional staffers. Stone learned a lot from the two meetings he attended and hopes to meet with staffers for all six Kentucky representatives next year. “I know what to expect now,” he said.
Lee summed up DOTH by calling it her “favorite professional event of the year.” She said, “It's really fun to meet people who are as passionate as you are about what you do every day. It's always really encouraging to be surrounded by people who are advocating like you are, and so I always appreciate the opportunity DOTH provides to do just that.”