ASPS State Partnership Program
Advocacy Support
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons believes local, state and regional plastic surgery affiliates are essential partners in state advocacy, as these organizations are on-the-ground and offer invaluable insights and expertise that can shape state advocacy strategies. Through the ASPS State Partnership Program, the following advocacy services will be available to plastic surgery affiliate organizations:
ASPS tracks state legislation that can potentially impact plastic surgeons and their patients in all 50 states. ASPS Government Affairs staff will notify local, state and regional plastic surgery affiliates when key issues are introduced by legislators in those respective states and proactively seek the guidance of our affiliate organizations as ASPS considers engagement in the region. ASPS is also committed to proactively pursuing legislative measures that will improve the professional climate for plastic surgeons in the region or improve access to care for patients. Plastic surgery affiliate organizations will be provided with the opportunity to join ASPS's advocacy efforts in response to these key issues, including, but not limited to:
- jointly commenting to state legislatures on legislation
- notifying ASPS and the affiliate's members about the collective advocacy work
- developing cobranded collateral that details plastic surgery's position on the issue
The ASPS Advocacy in Action website hosts ASPS's position statements on federal and state legislative issues. It also hosts ASPS's grassroots action alerts, which can be found under "Take Action." Please note that members are only able to see active state alerts for their state.
ASPS is committed to identifying opportunities for members to voice their support or concern for legislation to their elected officials. Through the Aristotle 360 platform, ASPS is able to offer this direct engagement through personalized letter-writing campaigns, which are available to the members on the ASPS Advocacy in Action website. The ASPS State Partnership Program is pleased to extend the use of this platform to local, state and regional plastic surgery affiliates through cobranded alerts in an effort to build a greater network of engaged physicians.
All staff and consultants for the local, state and regional societies receive the monthly issue of Advocacy Matters, which highlights federal, state and regulatory advocacy conducted by ASPS and our state partners.
Many state legislatures consider the same nationally trending issues every year, including scope of practice expansions, defining surgery, facility requirements and the use of board certification in advertisements. As different local, state and regional plastic surgery societies face these issues, there is opportunity to collectively brainstorm best practices and strategies for furthering patient safety and practice standards. ASPS will facilitate communication between affiliates that are facing similar legislative issues. ASPS will additionally host bi-monthly conference calls for affiliate staff, where trending issues, obstacles and successes can be discussed. A bi-annual conference call for society leadership will also allow for similar sharing and learning opportunities. Through this active communication, ASPS and plastic surgery affiliates can strategically prepare to support our members in state legislatures.