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Hill Day 2019

FOTA Hill Day in Tallahassee, FL,  January 22 at the Capitol Building, 2nd Floor Rotunda at 8am. We were joined by our lobbying firm, Corcoran & Johnston (C&J), to establish a presence with legislators in the rotunda, promote an awareness OT on the hill, as well as engage in sit-down meetings individually with specifically selected legislators at their offices as arranged C&J. Our objective was to raise awareness of the distinct value of OT in serving Floridians, and addressing specific issues of access to care, protection and promotion of OT practice across our state. We hope many OTs join us for Hill Day in the years to come. Part of your membership dues go to ensure that FOTA as skilled advisement from our lobbying firm on strategies to promote and protect OT in Florida.  FOTA relies on membership support to advocate successfully. More members are needed to increase our ability to influence change.
Thanks to OT Students from FAMU and OTA Students from Keiser U provided a positive presence and enthusiastic representation for the future of Occupational Therapy in Florida. Students and faculty attended some meeting with legislators, toured the House and Senate Chambers, and mingled with the leaders coming and going in the Rotunda. A student poster presenting research on the important issue pain management through OT was presented near our FOTA tables. Informational Brochures were available for all passers by.
 

The FOTA Governmental Affairs Co-Chairs, President, our Lobby Firm--Corcoran & Johnston, and Members had 16 different legislators and their staff over the course of a full-day schedule. We discussed issues important to the practice of OT and the service to our clients over several talking points including the Opioid Crisis, Pain Management, Mental Health in Schools, Medicaid, and Telehealth Practice. Our meeting included leaders on important health policy, and human services committees. We thank them for a receptive discussion about OT in FL. I have included some pics of my hand-held schedule and talking points from the day of meetings.

Hill Day Schedule  of Legislator Office Visits PDF

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Practitioners: Let's Go Ahead and Complain about Medicaid in Florida

Invitation to Take Action and Send in Concerns

FOTA representatives had a sit-down question-and-answer session with Florida Medicaid officials in March of 2018. I called in by phone. We had several questions about Medicaid policies regarding both pediatric and adult care issues. After all was said and done, the most striking comment we had to take away from our informative and respectful meeting was this:

“We just haven’t had many complaints about Occupational Therapy and Medicaid….you need to encourage your clients and practitioners to contact Medicaid to raise their concerns. When we have more complaints filed, we can look at our policies and consider what changes need to be made.”

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