10/29/2023

Ohio Goes to Washington: Adrian Gorzitze-Maxey Reports from the AAPA Leadership and Advocacy Summit

I had a very informative, enlightening, and engaging time at the American Academy of Physician Associates' Leadership and Advocacy Summit 2023. I met with many incredible fellow PAs from around Ohio and the rest of the country and learned a great deal about both state chapter governance and various ways PAs can advocate for legislation progressing our profession, with plenty of success stories from multiple states as examples.

I also had the opportunity to meet with staffers for Representative Mike Turner of Ohio's 10th Congressional district and both of Ohio's Senators, Sherrod Brown and JD Vance, to discuss the Improving Access to Workers' Compensation for Injured Federal Workers Act and the Promoting Access to Diabetic Shoes Act. If passed, these laws would modernize outdated legislation, expanding access to care for our patients entirely within our training and scope of practice.

Even though we can treat federal employees outside of workers' compensation visits and perform workers' compensation visits for non-federal employees, PAs cannot conduct Workers' Compensation visits for federal employees. The Improving Access to Workers' Compensation for Injured Federal Workers Act would update this so we can perform workers' compensation visits for federal employees.

Also, we can manage diabetes for our patients, including providing diabetic education, prescribing insulin, and oral diabetic medications, and maintaining routine visits to discuss their blood glucose readings and monitoring their A1C, among other labs. However, due to outdated legislation, PAs cannot order diabetic shoes for our diabetic patients on Medicare. With the current laws, Medicare patients need diabetic shoes to be ordered by a physician, and that physician then needs to take over the management of the patient's diabetic care moving forward, even though the patient and PA may have a years-long established rapport and relationship regarding the patient's diabetic management. The Promoting Access to Diabetic Shoes Act would allow us as PAs to order diabetic shoes for our patients on Medicare and remain their provider.

I strongly encourage everyone to contact their federal representative and senators to discuss this legislation, and to engage in advocacy for our profession on the local and state levels and the federal level if you haven't already done so. Overall, I had a phenomenal experience in DC at the 2023 AAPA Leadership and Advocacy Summit, and I plan to attend again next year!

Adrian Gorzitze-Maxey, MSPAS, PA-C is the Education Chair of the Ohio Association of Physician Assistants.