Take Action
Today’s changing practice environment requires you to be an effective advocate for your patients and your profession. You are key to ensuring that policymakers understand the benefits of hospice and palliative care and how you and your patients are impacted by the latest health policy proposals. With information and tools from AAHPM, it’s easy to get started.
AAHPM Legislative Action Center
Congressional Management Foundation surveys show constituent interactions strongly influence lawmakers’ decisions, and advocates are more effective when they provide personal stories and information about the impact a bill/issue would have on their district or state.
AAHPM’s Legislative Action Center makes it simple to review legislation relevant to you, share your perspectives with your representatives in Congress, and begin building relationships that are key to ensuring sound health policy.
- Review legislation – See the bills that AAHPM supports.
- Contact your representatives – Easily find and contact your elected officials about issues important to you.
Support the Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act
The Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act (PCHETA) – a bill developed by AAHPM – has been reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives as H.R. 647 with strong bipartisan support. (Review a bill summary.)
AAHPM and its stakeholder partners are focused on securing support from members of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the bill, to quickly advance PCHETA in the House. It will also be important to engage Republican members in the House who previously supported the bill and ask them to cosponsor again.
If you are from a congressional district one of these lawmakers represents, please reach out today using AAHPM’s Legislative Action Center, and urge your member of Congress to cosponsor PCHETA.
The action alerts below include suggested talking points, making it easy to send a personalized e-mail. (The system will only generate a message if your contact information indicates that you're a constituent of a member of Congress in the targeted group.)
- Contact members of the House Energy & Commerce Committee – Ask them to support PCHETA and help advance the bill.
- Contact House Republicans that supported PCHETA last Congress – Thank them for their support, and ask them to cosponsor the bill in the 116th Congress.
Comment Opportunities
Federal Task Force Offers Recommendations for Pain Management; Comment by April 1
On Dec. 31, 2018, the Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force released a draft report that provides recommendations to address identified gaps or inconsistencies for managing chronic and acute pain. The group is accepting feedback via regulations.gov through Apr. 1.
Constituent Meetings
As a hospice and palliative care professional, you are not only a constituent but an expert resource on health policy issues. Are you interested in setting up a meeting with your members of Congress and their staff to discuss the needs of patients and families facing serious illness? Are you looking to invite your representative to tour your facility and see how the decisions they make impact the services you provide?
Contact AAHPM’s This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for assistance.