"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead

MiOTA Advocacy Committee strives to provide comprehensive awareness, education, and support on topics relevant for practice with all Michigan OT‘s and OTA‘s. The committee focuses on both advocacy and legislation activity.
 
ADVOCACY: Actions that support, promote, increase awareness, argues for a cause, represents consumers, and educates. It is an ongoing process to protect your scope of practice, increase utilization of resources, and foster networking among consumers and professionals. You can advocate without legislative changes occurring, and often this is requires more time and attention prior to any legislative activity.
 
LEGISLATION/ LOBBYING: Communicating with decision makers for proposal policy changes that impact scope of practice and safety of consumers. Legislation activity typically occurs during and /or after advocacy action, however, rarely occurs without initial advocacy activity.

MiOTA Advocacy Committee Structure:

Advocacy Committee: A group of MiOTA members (OT, OTA, and students) that meet once a month to discuss the advocacy and legislative needs of Michigan. Topics selected to address are from AOTA, our lobbyist, and OT/OTA/students input and reports. The topics are divided among committee members to lead workgroups, create action plan, and share with MiOTA members.

Public Policy: This subcommittee reviews all questions that are submitted to the MiOTA website which may include the following: scope of practice, licensure, safety, student issues, fieldwork, etc. Members of the committee will reach out to experts in the field for answers to ensure accurate dissemination of information. All questions and answers are kept on record in the MiOTA office and shared publicly under FAQ.

Reimbursement: This subcommittee reviews current reimbursement issues, manages inquiries from OT/OTA‘s and maintains communication with insurance providers. It reports on any Medicare and Medicaid changes/updates. MiOTA has a designated member who is our BCBS liaison due to the vast number of needs in the state with that provider.

Friends of OT in MI PAC: This is a voluntary, nonprofit, nonpartisan Political Action Committee of members from the Michigan Occupational Therapy Association to support OT friendly candidates in legislative affairs.

Contact us at: administration@miota.org

Advocating all year long!

Advocating for occupational therapy occurs every day in your practice, university, and community. MiOTA encourages you to engage in advocacy action all year round. Here are a few ideas to advocate for the profession and we encourage you to share your ideas, events, engagement with MiOTA to highlight on the website and our social media sites for others to see, hear, and do.

Year-Round Advocacy Ideas:

• State/ Local Level: Invite a legislator from your district to your university or place of employment and discuss the role of OT
• Local Professional Recruitment: Attend high school career day and introduce the profession of OT to high school students
• Develop Prevention/ Wellness Programs: create and offer community programming
• Write to Legislators: MiOTA and AOTA will provide the template for letters
• Invite nonmember to join MiOTA
• Support the Friends of OT MI PAC