Advocate Summary

Issue:  Optometric clinical education training
Advocate:  Office of Senator Jack F. Reed (D-RI) – Lisa German
Date of Interview: 7/12/02

[This woman was having a terribly bad day and didn’t have much time to meet. In addition, this issue is extremely young, and she had only one meeting with the initiating group, the AOA – at the time of the meeting he had still not gotten back to her.]

Basic Background
I really haven’t been too active. Senator Reed had met with some constituents about it, somebody at the Optometry Association about the issue. And just tried to get some more information about the issue. Other than there is an issue with Medicare I don’t have any background on it. They are looking at trying to do something through Graduate Medical Education and they are looking at another area of practice as a model. I told them to get me some more information on the other practice about getting incorporated into graduate medical education. And I still haven’t heard from them. There is no certainty at this point, it may not even be incorporated, it just depends, this is very early, it just depends. I’ve only had two meetings on this.  And the lobbyist couldn’t answer any of my questions so I told him to get back to me with information, so hopefully he will, he still hasn’t. 

They are interested in, under Medicare there’s this program called graduate medical education, which reimburse facilities that train different types of physicians. And they are interested in seeing if their optometry students – where they practice could also fall under that. But they can’t get that reimbursement currently because there are additional costs. From what they told me, is that there is another health care provider, and I can’t even think of who it is right now because my mind is else where, but there is another area of clinical specialties that hadn’t been reimbursed up until recently, so they are saying we want that to. So I said tell me how they did it and then we’ll talk. Because every practice is different, and optometry isn’t a typical doctor, they are different. So that was it. 

It depends on the opportunities and the size of what they are asking for, whether it would entail a bill or simply writing to the secretary of HHS, the head of Medicare, saying this is an administrative change and we urge you to do this…and that’s the think I don’t know much about it. I only had two conversations one was with the Senator and one with the lobbyist.

Prior Activity on the Issue 
None mentioned.

Advocacy Activities Undertaken
None mentioned.

Future Advocacy Activities Planned
None mentioned.

Key Congressional Contact(s)/Champions
None mentioned.

Targets of Direct Lobbying
None mentioned.

Targets of Grassroots Lobbying
None mentioned.

Coalition Partners: Names/Participants
No clue. 

Other Participants in the Issue Debate
None mentioned.

Ubiquitous Argument(s) and Evidence
None mentioned.

Secondary Argument(s) and Evidence
None mentioned.

Targeted Arguments, Targets, and Evidence
None mentioned.

Nature of the Opposition
I’d imagine there would be concerns about cost because you are adding in a new specialty practice into an already strained program, so adding a new group would be somewhat concerning, and I think it would be concerning for my boss, that’s why I asked for more information – you know why haven’t they been included and is that appropriate. 

Ubiquitous Argument(s) and Evidence Articulated by the Opposition 
None mentioned.

Secondary Argument(s) and Evidence Articulated by the Opposition
None mentioned.

Targeted Argument(s) and Evidence Articulated by the Opposition (and Targets)
None mentioned.

Described as a Partisan Issue
No. 

Venue(s) of Activity
None yet.

Action Pending or Taken by Relevant Decision Makers
No action pending. 

Policy Objective(s) and Support for/Opposition to the Status Quo
Senator Reed’s office is not involved enough to have an objective

Advocate’s Experience: Tenure in Current Job/Previous Experience
Did not obtain.
Reliance on Research: In-House/External (Code for Organizational Advocates Only)

Number of Individuals Involved in Advocacy (Code for Organizational Advocates Only)

Units in Organization Involved in Public Affairs/Policy (Code for Organizational Advocates Only)

Advocate’s Outstanding Skills/Assets (Code for Organizational Advocates Only)

Type of Membership: None, Institutions, Individuals, Both (Code for Organizational Advocates Only)

Membership Size (Code for Organizational Advocates Only)

Organizational Age (Code for Organizational Advocates Only)

Miscellaneous