Hello readers! As promised, I would like to tell you about my recent trip to Washington D.C. Early Sunday morning of this past week, two of my classmates and several students from the QU PA Class of 2013, along with our program director, head down to D.C. for the annual American Academy of Physician Assistant Capitol Connection Conference. This conference focuses on PA advocacy—and what a gratifying experience it was!
During our first two days in D.C., we attended information sessions that recognized certain matters regarding the PA profession that need legislative and staff support to optimize patient care provided by physician assistants. We attended these sessions to prepare for the meetings we had scheduled on Wednesday with legislators and staff members on Capitol Hill. During the information sessions, we learned about advocacy and it’s relevance and importance to the PA profession. We learned techniques to advocate effectively and became knowledgeable of certain areas revolving around the PA profession that need legislative support.
For instance, one of the major topics revolved around PAs and hospice care. Although physician assistants are trained and capable of providing hospice care, when a patient elects to use the Medicare hospice benefit, the PAs providing care are not reimbursed for their services. Therefore, if a patient has a PA as their primary care provider, this not only creates a discontinuity of care, but also creates significant distress for a patient at a time when they are most vulnerable. Another issue we became educated on was making PAs eligible for Medicaid EHR Incentive payments. This incentive was initially designed for physicians, dentists, and nurse practitioners, with the idea that PAs would be grouped with the physicians. However, this is not the case. This is a glitch in the writing and requires further modification in order to optimize healthcare provided by PAs. The other two areas we learned about revolved around enabling PAs to care for federal workers injured on the job and also ensuring continued federal support of the PA educational programs through Title VII. As you can see, these are all important matters revolving around the PA profession and it was great to be a part of PA advocacy and work for change to enhance patient care.
After preparing to meet with staff and legislators, we head to The Hill on Tuesday for our scheduled meetings. We met with staff from Connecticut to discuss the several areas of concern. It was a great experience! We organized our thoughts ahead of time and each of us students participated to effectively get our points across. The staff members were all very interested in what we had to say and showed enthusiasm in our ideas and concerns. It was a rewarding experience. Especially when Rep. Rosa DeLauro met with us and explained how she loves the work we do as students and future health care providers and supports the PA profession. So awesome to hear!
Although advocacy was the main focus of the trip, it wasn’t just about meetings and information sessions. It was a time for us to build the QU PA Team. We went out to dinner, went sightseeing, and shared tons of laughs together! There was never a dull moment and I enjoyed getting closer with my classmates and getting to know to some of the first year PA students. I’ve always considered the Quinnipiac Physician Assistant Program to be a unified team and I loved having the opportunity to strengthen the unity we share.
--Stephanie Colella, Physician Assistant Student 2012
