Earlier this month, the ACS State Affairs team attended the AMA’s State Advocacy Roundtable event for staff of state and national medical organizations. Over 30 state medical societies, represented by 55 staff, and 21 national medical associations, represented by 30 staff attended the event, along with 28 AMA staff.

Several topics were discussed during the three-day event, including prior authorization, scope of practice, physician unions, Medicaid, and non-compete clauses. Throughout the event, the AMA provided information and resources to assist the attendees as they discussed successful and not so successful campaigns in the state legislatures.

While the AMA provided many resources, the greatest takeaway from this meeting is making new and strengthening old relationships within the state advocacy ecosystem. Building those relationships only makes the ACS stronger when action needs to be taken in a state.

National Conference of State Legislatures

The ACS State Affairs team attended and hosted an exhibit at the 2023 National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Legislative Summit in Indianapolis, Indiana. Each year, state legislators and their staff from across the country flock to the NCSL Legislative Summit to learn about policy trends and innovative solutions they can apply to legislative issues in their home state. For the past decade, ACS co-hosted an exhibit with other national medical organizations titled, “Physicians Advocating for Patients.” This year, the ACS State Affairs team took the opportunity to showcase the STOP THE BLEED® campaign through raffling off three enhanced STOP THE BLEED® kits. David Welsh, MD, FACS, currently serving on the ACS Board of Regents, was a special guest of the exhibit, and along with the ACS State Affairs team, was able to directly engage with over 40 state legislators and their staff.

Other participating medical organizations in the 2023 Physicians Advocating for Patients exhibit included the American Academy of Dermatology, the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery Association, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Academy of Anesthesiologist Assistants, the Federation of State Medical Boards, the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, the American College of Emergency Physicians, and the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Planning for the 2024 NCSL Legislative Summit is already underway and is scheduled to take place August 5-7 in Louisville, Kentucky.

LEGISLATIVE TRACKING

To view a complete list of bills ACS State Affairs is tracking, visit our online State Legislative Tracker.