APMA News - September/October 2021 - 17

State Advocacy Forum
Focuses on Partnerships
T
he APMA State Advocacy Forum, hosted by the Center
for Professional Advocacy, is a unique biennial event
that allows leaders from APMA component organizations
to come together for collaboration and education.
The 2021 event, held August 20-21 in Atlanta, highlighted
the best of these elements through the theme " Partners
in Progress. " While every state legislature has its own quirks,
what is common across all of them is that strong partnerships-with
legislative champions, other associations, and
others-lead to effective change.
More than 65 member volunteers and state leaders representing
30 states attended the event, with a handful also participating
online. The Georgia Podiatric Medical Association
(GPMA) was chosen to host this year's forum in recognition of
its recent legislative successes. " We used the information we
learned at the 2019 State Advocacy Forum to create the roadmap
that led to our wins, " said Marit Sivertson, GPMA executive
director, during a panel discussion in which the GPMA
talked about its processes.
One major change GPMA made on its way to modernizing
the Georgia scope-of-practice law was to hire a new lobbying
fi rm that included former Georgia Speaker of the House Terry
Coleman. At the forum, Coleman provided advice about
working with legislators, from understanding personal relationships
(e.g., changing your approach after learning that
the committee chair's brother is an orthopedist) to how to
create effective and memorable educational materials. He
highlighted the many partnerships needed to move legislation
forward and how to anticipate potential roadblocks such
as the governor's offi ce, state agencies, and other decision
makers. Coleman also gave pointers on providing testimony
before a committee or legislature: Make sure you understand
the ground rules, keep it short and to the point instead of
overwhelming your audience with too much information,
and be prepared for questions.
Attendees had an opportunity to learn more about recent
APMA activities, including the white paper created by the
Joint Task Force of Orthopaedic and Podiatric Surgeons that
includes a pathway to podiatry students taking the USMLE.
Attendees were brought up to speed on the history of the task
force and the long path toward parity that led to creation of
the paper.
The forum included several breakout sessions that allowed
attendees to come together in small groups to discuss common
challenges and swap solutions to address those challenges.
Topics of discussion included:
* scope-of-practice modernization;
* oversight of physician extenders;
* encouraging grassroots involvement; and
* interacting with state legislators.
Other breakout sessions led to robust discussions about
grassroots advocacy and how to involve members no matter
the size of the component. One easy way to make grassroots
advocacy accessible to everyone is to use APMA eAdvocacy
(www.apma.org/eAdvocacy). The site includes social media
contact information for all legislators from the federal down
to the county level.
During the forum, several state components gave updates
about how they have used their CPA Innovation Grants. The
grants provide funds for states to use on a variety of focused
advocacy issues, such as scope modernization, physician
defi nition, and general education. Grant recipients offered
ideas other states could put to use, a hallmark of the collaborative
spirit of the forum.
Although the deadline for 2022 grants has already passed,
bookmark www.apma.org/innovation to learn more and to
prepare for the next application cycle.
The next State Advocacy Forum will be held in 2023. For
more information about the event, visit www.apma.org/
stateadvocacyforum. For additional resources about how to
take your state advocacy efforts to the next level, visit www.
apma.org/cpa. n
APMA News September/October 2021 17
http://www.apma.org/eAdvocacy http://www.apma.org/innovation http://www.apma.org/stateadvocacyforum http://www.apma.org/stateadvocacyforum http://www.apma.org/cpa http://www.apma.org/cpa
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