Hello from the AOTPAC Board of Directors!

Rachelle Dorne, M.Ed., Ed.D., OTR/L, CAPS

On behalf of the American Occupational Therapy Political Action Committee (AOTPAC) and as the Board Director for Region II (Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington D.C., & West Virginia), I wish you a happy Spring!

I would like to tell you a little bit about AOTPAC and about the likely legislative priorities for the profession, AOTPAC, and AOTA’s Federal Affairs team in the coming year. If you are not familiar with AOTPAC, here is a brief description: “AOTPAC is a voluntary, nonprofit, nonpartisan, unincorporated committee of members of AOTA. The purpose of AOTPAC is to further the legislative aims of the Association by influencing or attempting to influence the selection, nomination, election, or appointment of any individual to any Federal public office, and of any occupational therapist, occupational therapy assistant, or occupational therapy student member of AOTA seeking election to public office at any level (as permitted by law)” (AOTA, 2019). AOTPAC carries out its mission in two broad ways: 1) through advocacy on legislative issues of importance to the profession of occupational therapy and promotion of such advocacy, and 2) through fundraising for donations to candidates for federal office who do or might support the legislative aims of AOTPAC in support of the profession. It is important to note that AOTPAC is only able to pursue donations from AOTA members and their immediate family members. 

The AOTPAC is comprised of a Board of Directors made up of five appointed members who each represent a geographical region and a Chairperson who may or may not also represent one of the Regions. The Board members are occupational therapy practitioners with a history of political advocacy and a deep commitment to promoting occupational therapy. The roster of Board Directors and their contact information can be found on the AOTA website. As Board Director for Region II, I reside in Virginia and I am a member of VOTA, having moved last year from Florida, where I was a member of FOTA. I truly value advocacy on municipal, state, and national levels and my passion is to inspire students and practitioners to become advocates as well.

 While AOTPAC focuses much of its energies on fundraising, we also promote advocacy on behalf of the profession in general. One simple way that every occupational therapy practitioner can participate in political advocacy is to contact their U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative. Our elected representatives pay attention to the voices of their constituents, but as you might expect, the larger the number of personal messages received advocating a particular stance on an issue, the more likely they are to really listen. You can contact your elected representatives by phone, by email, or even better in person. You may visit their office in your home city or state or their federal office on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. To find your Members of Congress, their contact information and some information about them including their staff and congressional committees upon which they serve, all you have to do is go to the AOTA Website using the following link: www.aota.org/takeaction. It may be important to know your “zip + 4” zip code if your zip code is split with different Representatives representing different portions of your zip code.

 Contacting your elected officials may be intimidating at first, but AOTA and AOTPAC can provide many resources and assistance! If you have never contacted or visited your Senators and/or Representative, you may benefit from visiting the “Take Action” webpage on the AOTA website at https://www.aota.org/Advocacy-Policy/Congressional-Affairs/Take-Action.aspx. Here you’ll find helpful information such as the basics on some ways to advocate for OT and tips for writing a letter to a Member of Congress. You’ll also find a link to “Take Action Now!” which will lead you to information on current and past legislative priorities. As of the start of each new Congress, the slate is wiped clean and bills must be reintroduced before they can start the process of potentially making their way to becoming laws. As such, as of the submission date of this article, specific bills we may want to support are not available, however it is likely that we will pursue advocacy on the following issues in the 116^th Congress!

The current issues of importance include:

• Medicare home health legislation to allow occupational therapists to open home health therapy cases under Medicare by conducting the initial assessment and comprehensive evaluation.
• Legislation to expand coverage of telehealth services provided to all Medicare beneficiaries to include occupational therapy.
• Continued efforts to highlight the role of occupational therapy practitioners in non-pharmacological treatment of pain, addressing the opioid crisis.
• Legislation to promote continued funding for occupational therapy in schools, skilled nursing facilities, home health and private practice as well as other areas.
• Raising awareness in Congress about fall prevention and home safety focusing on the important role of occupational therapy in conducting home assessments and interventions.
• Increasing national awareness on the importance of occupational therapy services for people who have experienced a traumatic brain injury.

 These advocacy efforts support practice in traditional settings that demonstrate OT’s distinct value in the changing regulatory environment as well as generate initiatives that demonstrate OT’s distinct value in new practice settings addressing all aspects of health (C. Metzler, Personal Communication, 2019).

 I hope that I have been successful in providing you some useful information about AOTPAC and about how you can begin to advocate through contact with your elected Senators and Representative! I challenge each of you to visit the Legislative Action Center this month and follow the steps to advocate for your practice, your clients, and your profession.  If you have any questions or would like any assistance, feel free to contact me at [email protected] or [email protected].

 References

American Occupational Therapy Association. (2019). American Occupational Therapy Association Political Action Committee (AOTPAC). Online at:  www.aota.org/AOTPAC.

Parsons, H. (2019, April 26). Promoting Occupational Therapy in the New Congress: Home Health, Telehealth, Falls Prevention, and More. OT Practice Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.aota.org/Publications-News/otp/Archive/2019/start-of-new-congress.aspx