FEATURE


(Photo at left) Ann Sariego, vice president of operations at Physicians Endoscopy in Jamison, Pennsylvania, along with fellow members (clockwise from upper-left) Diane Santiago, business manager of Hudson Valley Center for Digestive Health in Cortland Manor, New York, Steve Housberg, administrator of Advanced Endoscopy Center in Bronx, New York, and Victoria Catalanotto, RN, clinical nurse manager of Long Island Center for Digestive Health, LLC, provide Rep. Nita Lowey’s (NY-D) staff with information on ASC-related legislation.


Join ASCA on Capitol Hill


Participate in ASCA’s Capitol Fly-In program to make your case BY BLAKE MCDONALD


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wice a year, as part of ASCA’s Cap- itol Fly-In program, ASC industry


representatives gather in Washington, DC, to directly lobby their members of Congress. They present a unified voice in support of legislation that will improve the way their centers care for their patients.


These in-person meetings are just one piece of ASCA’s fly-in program— a year-round advocacy effort that influ- ences US Congressional policy and builds strong, personal relationships between ASCs and their legislators.


Groundwork To prepare its members for the fly-ins, ASCA provides a webinar that walks participants through what to expect during the congressional visits they will be making. The webinar features a mock meeting that demonstrates how to effectively ask members of Congress to support ASC legislation and provides details on how individual ASC profes- sionals can establish and maintain a relationship with their elected officials.


“For me, the webinar helped bring


everything I already knew together,” says Jeffrey Hayes, administrator of Tuscaloosa Surgical Center in Tusca- loosa, Alabama, and president of the Alabama Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers. “The people I came with were a little less experienced, and the webinar helped them with the finer points of the issues.” Hayes has attended four fly-ins and participates in the biweekly ASCA advocacy calls to stay up-to-date on the latest issues and grassroots campaigns. Ann Sariego, vice president of operations at Physicians Endoscopy in Jamison, Pennsylvania, participated in her second fly-in last September. Although she already knew what to expect, she says, “The webinar crystalized it more for me. The video in the webinar was helpful in that it made sure that everyone in the meeting knew what their roles were, how much time you had and what points to drive home.”


Sariego says she found the talking points on the legislation that the pack- age contained to be especially useful. “The talking points were concise, summarized well and easy to understand, almost like the CliffsNotes version of the bills,” she says. “What you do not want to do is to be crumpling through many sheets of paper during a meeting.” In addition to the talking points,


Hayes made use of the one-page sum- maries of the ASC-related legislation. “The overviews of the bills helped me prepare and become more comfort- able with talking about what the bills were about,” Hayes says. “I was more comfortable with what I was going to say and how I was going to say it.”


The Event The Capitol Fly-In program in Wash- ington, DC, begins with an address from ASCA’s member leaders and staff. Their presentation goes over the issues that the attendees will lobby for the next day and the ins and outs of spending a day on Capitol Hill. The attendees then break into groups based on their home states and the Congres- sional offices they will be visiting. Everything that ASCA did to pre- pare the attendees worked well, Hayes says. Referring to those who were par- ticipating for the first time, he adds, “Even though they were nervous, they felt prepared. It does help to have some- one go on meetings who has been to meetings before. By the third meeting,


ASC FOCUS FEBRUARY 2015 19


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