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Late last week, the deadline for introducing state legislation passed, and the Legislature will now have more than 5,000 bills to address this year. As we pore over them to discern which ones impact hospitals, we’re getting a clearer view of the health care policy landscape — and of the advocacy work we need to do to ensure you can focus on your mission of care.
It’s still early in the legislative year, which means there are plenty of curve balls, amendments, negotiations, and new developments yet to come. But with a good understanding of the administration’s priorities, the Legislature’s hot-button issues, and the needs of your patients and communities, we’ll continue to make sure lawmakers know what hospitals stand for and where we can be an important resource for them.
To help with those conversations, we’ve created a library of advocacy materials that help explain where hospitals stand on the most prominent health care issues and offer solutions to help your patients and communities thrive. We’ll use these key messages, issue briefs, and infographics in meetings with legislators and their staff, as a component of our social media messaging, and to help inform traditional news media when they reach out to us.
We created the materials with you in mind — recognizing your need as organizational and community leaders, to use in your interactions with local and state officials, for media inquiries, or however else you find them useful.
The library will continue to grow throughout the year, encompassing additional issues, but for now, it includes topics such as: health care affordability, behavioral health, hospitals as economic engines, hospital and health system integration, price transparency, rate setting, and surprise billing.
It also features a toolkit on hospital seismic requirements in support of our sponsored legislation, Senate Bill 758 (Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge). The toolkit includes FAQs, talking points, an issue brief, an infographic, a sample op-ed, a sample letter to the editor, and a sample PowerPoint presentation.
On the issues that matter most to you and your patients, our greatest strengths are our unified effort and cohesive voice. I hope you’ll make good use of our growing advocacy library in our shared work to advance health care in California.
– Carmela
