March has been a month of advocacy at the Columbus Medical Association

All throughout the month, CMA board members, employees, and physicians have been meeting with Central Ohio politicians to discuss the state of the medical field.

“The current round of meetings that the CMA is having is expanding our reach outside of Franklin and Delaware Counties,” said Malcolm Porter, the public policy consultant for CMA. “It is a new experience for legislators who represent the greater seven-county region to be hearing from the CMA. These are new relationships that we are working to build.”

The goal for the month was to meet with 20 elected officials – primarily via Zoom – and have a variety of physicians participate, to ensure that the needs of the medical field are being heard by those who have the power to make changes.

“It is our job as physicians to provide legislators with information on medically or scientifically oriented legislation that will help them make decisions on these bills,” said Dr. William Cotton, a co-chair of the CMA’s Public Policy Committee. “It is also important to meet with the legislator before a medical issue arises. When a medical bill is introduced, the lawmaker will already know of you and will hopefully seek you out for information and support.”

With countless bills in consideration that could affect the medical community and a window of only about 30 minutes with each official, it is important that the CMA focus on the issues that make the biggest overall impact.

“The government should not pass any laws that support non-scientific principles,” Dr. Cotton said. “As an example, there is currently a proposed law that, if passed, will require that the treating physician tell the patient that a certain option is available if this treatment is chosen. If the physician fails to do this, they can be fined or imprisoned. There is no scientific data to support this option.”

The topics can vary, but many focused around patient-physician relationships, vaccine protocols, and the emergence of telehealth.

“Meetings with legislators can vary widely depending on the interests of the legislator and the committees they serve on,” Porter said.

The CMA’s Public Policy Committee meets quarterly to discuss bills and plan future interactions with politicians.

“The committee has written letters to the editor, helped coordinate testifying for bills, and encouraged the CMA membership to contact their legislators concerning important bills,” Dr. Cotton said.

The committee’s next scheduled meeting is set for April 7. Click here to RSVP.