DOs, students set to rally in D.C.
DO Day on Capitol Hill is a unique opportunity to meet face-to-face with members of Congress and staff members on key issues that impact DOs and their patients.
March 20, 2019 | Washington, D.C.
Each year, more than 1,000 members of the osteopathic medical community converge on Capitol Hill to engage with senators, members of Congress and legislative aides on important health policy issues. In past years, participants advocated for the establishment of policies to combat the opioid epidemic, ease the burden of medical school debt, and support funding for Teaching Health Centers.
Agenda
Typically DO Day kicks off with a breakfast briefing that includes a review of key policy issues, tips for communicating with lawmakers and presentations from special guest speakers. Past speakers have included members of Congress and the U.S. Surgeon General. Following the briefing, participants will meet with congressional representatives on the Hill.
For more information, contact Sean Neal at sneal@osteopathic.org.
DO Day FAQs
The day begins with a breakfast briefing to discuss how to best communicate with members of Congress, a review of the issues you will be discussing and presentations from guest speakers – everyone from members of Congress to the Surgeon General. Following the briefing, you will travel to Capitol Hill with your colleagues to meet with your congressional representatives throughout the afternoon.
No, we will handle that for you. The AOA’s Public Policy team will match your address (where you are registered to vote) against our congressional database to request appointments with your elected officials.
Possibly, but this varies from meeting to meeting. Members of Congress have very busy schedules. Between votes, committee hearings and meetings with other constituents, their time is scheduled down to the minute. They may spend the whole meeting with you, two minutes with you, or none at all. We always request that the member of Congress be present at the meeting.
No. Congressional offices want to meet with the constituents who hold the power to elect them into office. For that reason, we cannot allow participants to switch groups.
It’s perfectly acceptable to say “I don’t know,” and tell the office you will follow-up with the answer. If you’ve ever watched C-Span, you’ve seen cabinet secretaries do this all the time. This also provides you with a prime opportunity to contact the office again and continue to build a relationship.
Schedules are still being finalized until the night before DO Day. You can plan to receive your schedule of appointments the morning of the event.
AOA staff will work to review the schedules and combine groups or select “Hill Day Veterans” to accompany first time participants. Small states with three to five participants in total can attend all meetings together.
Members of Congress are elected to represent the people who live within their specific district or state – their constituents. Many of them will only meet with their actual constituents. Prior to scheduling your appointments, we verify the address you provided is where you are registered to vote. If you use another address, we will need to update your registration accordingly. Not registered to vote? Get registered.
The DO Engage is our primary way of communicating with members about events like DO Day. If you are not subscribed, we will not be able to inform you of changes or provide you with the necessary materials for you to have a successful DO Day. Therefore, we ask you to remain subscribed to the DO Engage advocacy email through DO Day 2018. If you are not already subscribed to the DO Engage, you will be signed up when you register for DO Day.
Congressional offices often change DO Day meetings at the last minute. We need to be able to communicate with you about schedule changes while you are on Capitol Hill.
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