August Week of Action
We are proud to launch another Advocacy Week of Action! This week-long series of (virtual) advocacy engagement activities will provide SVS members with an opportunity to collaboratively amplify our messages on Capitol Hill.
By completing the below “Advocacy Checklist,” members will have the opportunity to join their colleagues in collective advocacy engagement that will increase the visibility of our priorities on Capitol Hill and strengthen our foundational advocacy programs.
For any questions, contact SVSAdvocacy@vascularsociety.org.
Advocacy Checklist
- Send pre-written message(s) to lawmakers (via the Voter Voice platform).
- Encourage your personal network to join the effort by:
- Posting on SVS Connect and your advocacy experiences and/or interests;
- Sending an internal email to your practice/partners; or
- Circulating a message to your department or surgical colleagues from other specialties.
- Strengthen our overall advocacy efforts by signing up for the REACH 535 key contact program.
- Expand your coding knowledge by exploring our updated "Coding and Reimbursement" webpage, which includes a "Frequently Asked Questions" section.
- Broaden your understanding of the SVS' political advocacy efforts by visiting the new SVS PAC website.
- Strengthen our political advocacy footprint by donating to SVS PAC.
Join us in our grassroots efforts!
There are few advocacy tools more powerful than direct engagement between a constituent and a Member of Congress. Elected officials want to hear from their constituents about the issues that are important to them.
Your Representative and Senators are not experts in vascular care and need to hear from you about policies that impact your practice and your patients. The SVS Advocacy Team provides the mechanism and resources for you to easily communicate positions on SVS legislative priorities.
Engaging with your federal lawmakers helps to amplify SVS’ legislative priorities on Capitol Hill.
Send messages to your Members of Congress
Learn more about our legislative priorities:
- Support for H.R. 3674, the “Providing Relief and Stability for Medicare Patients Act of 2023”
- Legislation to increase the non-facility/office-based practice expense relative value units negatively impacted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ clinical labor policy for the next two years.
- Support for H.R. 2474, the “Strengthening Medicare for Patients and Providers Act”
- Legislation to provide annual inflationary updates, based on the Medicare Economic Index, for Medicare physician services, similar to updates received by other health care providers.
- Support for H.R. 1202/S. 704, the “Resident Education Deferred Interest (REDI) Act”
- Legislation to allow borrowers in medical or dental internships or residency programs to defer student loan payments without interest until the completion of their programs.
- Support for H.R. 2389/S. 1302, the “Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2023”
- Legislation to provide 14,000 new Medicare-supported graduate medical education positions over 7 years.
- Support for H.R. 731/S. 220, the “Workforce Mobility Act of 2023”
- Legislation to free physicians from non-competes (except in limited circumstances), providing them with an option to work for a competitor and/or more easily transition from one practice type to another.
- Support for H.R. 4261, the “Amputation Reduction and Compassion (ARC) Act of 2023”
- Legislation to reduce the number of avoidable amputations suffered by PAD patients by requiring Medicare and Medicaid to fully cover screening tests for beneficiaries who are at-risk of PAD.
Support SVS Advocacy by helping us REACH 535!
To better leverage the importance of engagement between lawmakers and their constituents, the SVS has launched a new grassroots advocacy program—REACH 535. This critical program will serve a two-fold purpose, by both:
- Connecting SVS members with their lawmakers to establish tangible channels for vascular surgeons to personally advocate on issues that significantly impact their practices and their patients; and
- Establishing a concrete mechanism for the SVS to amplify its advocacy efforts by ensuring we can quickly REACH the 535 decision-makers on Capitol Hill.
To become a REACH 535 key contact, complete the below sign-up form to identify your federal lawmakers and assist the SVS Advocacy team in organizing various outreach opportunities. While our immediate goal is to identify SVS advocates to pair with Congressional offices serving on the key healthcare committees (Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, Senate Finance and Senate HELP), we hope to recruit a key contact for each U.S. Senator and House Member to strengthen outreach to federal legislators when Congress debates major healthcare issues.
Expand your SVS Advocacy knowledge!
Expand your coding knowledge by exploring our updated "Coding and Reimbursement" webpage, which includes a "Frequently Asked Questions" section.
Broaden your understanding of the SVS' political advocacy efforts by visiting the new SVS PAC website.
Interested in learning more about all things Advocacy. Take a look back at “Government Grand Rounds,” in the Vascular Specialist, where we examine and discuss how the actions of Congress and regulatory agencies affect vascular surgeons and the patients they serve.