Legacy of Excellence Digital Flipbook

LEGACY OF EXCELLENCE

of the AAO-HNS/F Boards of Directors and AAO-HNS Board of Governors, the meeting transitioned in 2014 to the AAO-HNS/F Leadership Forum & BOG Spring Meeting. Advocacy in Action on the Federal Level After a six-year absence, the Congressional Hearing Health Caucus was reestablished on Capitol Hill in 2012. In February that year, the AAO-HNS and nine organizations hosted a joint kick-off event on Capitol Hill designed to officially announce the renewed Caucus activity. This was important because it created an essential platform to communicate hearing health issues with Members of Congress and their staffs. It was a gateway to effecting change from a collaborative point of advocacy. This was especially helpful when the hearing health community started to lay the groundwork in 2015 for the reauthorization of the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act (EHDI), which was enacted in 2017. The funding provided established statewide EHDI programs across the United States to identify children with hearing loss and direct them to early intervention services. Other federal legislation with regulatory impact on the physician community during this timeframe was the enactment of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, which was implemented in 2014 with rules issued in 2013 by CMS. This required the public reporting of financial relationships with drug and device companies.

OTO Advocacy Summit Transitions to AAO HNS/F Leadership Forum & BOG Spring Meeting In 2012, the AAO-HNS returned to a specialty specific format for its Washington, DC-based legislative advocacy events. “For the last four years, otolaryngology-head and neck surgery partnered with other surgical groups to host the Joint Surgical Advocacy Conference (JSAC). Due to varying legislative priorities and conflicting schedules, a combined surgical meeting will not be held this year. This provides us the opportunity to return to our own specialty-specific advocacy on Capitol Hill,” said Dr. Lusk, in the February 2012 Bulletin . To accommodate members’ schedules, the OTO Advocacy Summit was combined with the Board of Governors (BOG) and AAO-HNS/F Boards of Directors (BOD) spring meetings. It was held May 7-8, 2012. The BOG Spring Meeting & OTO Advocacy Summit took place May 6-8, 2012. Capitalizing on the success the OTO Advocacy Summit held in conjunction with leadership meetings

Attendees from the 2012 OTO Advocacy Summit converged on Capitol Hill.

Capitol Hill visit following the AAO-HNS/F 2016 Leadership Forum & BOG Spring Meeting.

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