Advocacy Successes
Physician Advocacy Successes
Good health policy is made with physicians in the discussion.
MSDC, working with its members, partners, and other organizations, has won major policy victories to help its members practice medicine. Below is a sampling of those victories. Do you want to be a vital part of the next policy victory helping improve the health of the District? Contact us today.
Opioid Policy
- MSDC was added to the opioid fund oversight panel by the Council in its legislation authorizing the oversight body
Scope of Practice
- MSDC supported legislation to ban the sale of flavored electronic smoking devices and restrict the sale of electronic smoking devices.
- Working with a coalition, MSDC added funding to the DC budget to support the hiring of more license specialists to help with the delay in processing medical licenses.
Women's Health
- B24-143, to regulate certified midwives, passed the Council with MSDC's support
Health Equity
- Mayor Muriel Bowser signs into law the Electronic Medical Order for Scope of Treatment Registry Amendment Act of 2019. The eMOST Registry Amendment Act permits the creation of an electronic database of advanced directive wishes for District residents that can be tied into the health information exchange.
- Mayor Bowser signs into law the School Sunscreen Safety Temporary Amendment Act of 2019. The bill permits students to bring and apply sunscreen during the 2019-2020 school year.
- MSDC comments on the importance of funding United Medical Center (UMC) and health facilities in Wards 7 and 8 in the mayor's budget. Those comments are used almost verbatim in CM Trayon White's comments advocating for funding of United Medical Center.
Scope of Practice
- DC Health publishes draft regulations removing the 3 mandatory CME hours for HIV/AIDS awareness and replaces them with a requirement to fulfill 10% of mandatory CME hours with a topic from a public health priority list. DC Health then waived the requirement for 2020.
- The Strengthening Reproductive Health Protections Act of 2020 is signed into law with MSDC support. The bill prohibits government interference in reproductive decisions between a patient and doctor, and prohibits employers from penalizing physicians for practicing reproductive medicine outside of their work hours.
- The Mayor's Commission on Healthcare Systems Transformation releases its final recommendations. One recommendation is for the District to explore options to make providing health care more affordable, including financial relief for higher malpractice insurance rates.
- The Council removes "telephone" from the list of prohibited types of telemedicine to allow physicians and other providers to be reimbursed for telephone telemedicine appointments after MSDC and health community advocacy.
- MSDC worked with the Council to modify onerous language in the Health Care Reporting Amendment Act that potentially would have penalized physicians from seeking help for substance abuse or addiction issues.
Opioid/Drug Policy
- The Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF) waives prior authorization for key medication assisted treatments (MAT) treating substance use disorder patients in Medicaid.
- The Mayor signed into law The Access to Biosimilars Amendment Act of 2019, a top MSDC priority as it would help prescribers to prescribe more cost-effective drugs for patients.
Behavioral Health
- The Behavioral Health Parity Act of 2017, a major priority for MSDC and DCPA, officially becomes law. The legislation requires all health benefit plans offered by an insurance carrier to meet the federal requirements of the Wellstone/Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.
Health Equity
- The District Council passes B22-1001, The Health Insurance Marketplace Improvement Amendment Act of 2018. The bill prohibits the sale of Short Term, Limited Duration health plans and Association Health Plans (AHPs) in the DC Health Benefits Exchange.
Scope of Practice
- DC joins 28 other states in the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact with B22-177 becoming law. The IMLC is designed to ease physician licensure in multiple states.
Women's Health
- The Maternal Mortality Review Committee is established by law. The Committee is responsible for finding solutions to maternal health crisis in the District. District physicians are an important part of this vital committee.
- B22-106, The Defending Access to Women's Health Care Services Amendment Act, becomes law. The act requires insurers to cover health care services like breast cancer screening and STI screenings without cost-sharing.
Opioid Policy
- Right before the Council adjourned for the session, it passed B21-32, the Specialty Drug Copayment Limitation Act. The bill limits cost shifting by payers for prescription drugs.
Behavioral Health
- B21-0007 passes the Council. The Behavioral Health Coordination of Care Amendment Act of 2016 permitted the disclosing of mental health information between a mental health facility and the health professional caring for the patient.
Women's Health
- MSDC was proud to have worked on B21-20. The law requires payers to cover up to 12 months of prescription contraception, advancing women's health and equality.
Who Are the Members of the District Council?
This article is the second in our series of advocacy articles that are part of MSDC's Advocacy Curriculum.
The biggest advantage and disadvantage to advocating for health policy in the District is the legislative body is small. Generally speaking, it takes as few as 8 votes to pass your bill. Thus every member of the Council is important to know.
The District Council is designed to ensure that every resident has multiple representatives. If you are a resident of DC, you have 6 people who represent your interests. That is because the Council is composed of a Chair, four a-large members, and eight Ward members.
The Chair is the head of the legislative branch. This person is the Chair of the entire Council, the Committee of the Whole (which is a committee of the entire Council), and responsible for determining committee assignments. These assignments are for Councilmembers AND bills. The Chair is responsible for the fair and efficient management of the legislative process. The current Chair is Phil Mendelson, and the position is elected city-wide.
There are currently four at-large Councilmembers. These four members are voted on by all District residents, and their four-year terms are staggered so only two are up for election every two years. In a fun twist, when Congress established the Council via the Home Rule Act, it required that a maximum of three members between the Chair and at-larges be of the same party. Of the four at-large, Councilmembers Silverman and Henderson are registered Independents because the Chair and other two at-large members are Democrats. The other at-large members are Anita Bonds and Robert White.
The remaining eight members are geographic representatives of the DC Wards. You can find your Ward using this map. While Ward members have a wide scope due to the committee Chair assignments, they tend to work on behalf of a part of the city more than at-large members. Wards are redrawn every ten years as part of the national census. You can see the entire Council list here.
Like any legislative office, Councilmembers have their own staff that work to advance the Councilmember's priorities. Often the staff will have policy and constituent-services focuses. While people aim to meet with Councilmembers, sometimes speaking with staff is the key to advancing your priorities.
With the Council being a smaller legislative body, that allows for Councilmembers to Chair committees and gain more legislative experience. The current Chair tends to dislike new committee members serving as Chairs in their first Council period, but you will often see newer Councilmembers with their own committee assignments. Each committee has its own professional staff, and depending on the committee has about 5 Councilmembers on it. You can track committee policies and procedures here.
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