Newsletters
The header image is the default header image for the site.2019 MOCEP Advocacy Day
POSTED: March 12th, 2019
POSTED IN: EM Pulse - The Official Newsletter of MOCEP, January/February 2019,
MOCEP had another successful Advocacy Day on March 5th. Thank you to those who attended and helped us advocate to many legislators in our state. If you have never attended Advocacy Day, we encourage you to consider attending in 2020 as this provides an opportunity to get to know your legislator, the legislative process and the activities in the Missouri Capitol building. The event is developed so our attendees are in groups and take turns sharing information and stories. The meetings are a way for us to educate legislators, and while they may not all agree with our issues, the conversations are educational for all in the room.
This year we advocated for passage of a statewide PDMP, EMTALA liability reform, removal of MAT prior authorization, and educated legislators on the prudent layperson standard. There are more than 60 new legislators in the Capitol building, so while some of these issues have been discussed for years in the Capitol, many of the new legislators are less than familiar with the issues. It is our job to educate them on these issues.
Representative Jonathan Patterson, MD, spoke with our group and provided us a strong message of the impact our advocacy can have on how a legislator votes. Rep. Patterson stated the votes of several House members changed between the second and third votes in the House on the PDMP. Several legislators that voted in favor of the PDMP on a Thursday returned the following week and voted against it. When Rep. Patterson asked them why they changed their vote they stated that a few of their constituents had called them over the weekend and asked them to vote against the PDMP. Your outreach really does make a difference. Establishing a relationship with your legislators, before you need to ask them to do something, makes a big difference. However, don’t think your voice isn’t heard even if you don’t have that established relationship. Your voice will be heard, all you have to do is reach out.