Advocacy is defined as any action that speaks in favor of, recommends, argues for, supports, or defends a particular cause. Advocacy seeks to influence decisions within society as well as political and economic institutions. Advocates raise awareness and support causes that are important to them. At the National Association of Rehabilitation Providers and Agencies (NARA), we believe in giving rehabilitation businesses a voice.
When working in advocacy, everybody wants to create the change they hope to see, but they must make sure that they are doing the correct things to contribute to the change. When trying to influence change, advocates must:
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Identify the problem and the solution
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Produce messaging, proposals, and research
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Communicate core messages to the greatest number of people possible using media, social media, lobbying, etc.
Advocacy creates change by strengthening and generating new knowledge and information in society and the government. It changes norms and attitudes and creates new precedents. If advocates want to see various levels of change, they must create short, medium, and long-term goals and detail how they will accomplish them. They must also make the goals specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
Here at NARA, we focus on providing the best care possible to the patients we serve. While devoting our time and energy to quality care, we can lose sight of the ever-changing regulations affecting our reimbursement and the delivery of care to patients. Because of this, NARA created a Political Action Committee and Government Affairs Committee.
Through the legislative efforts of the NARA PAC and Government Affairs Committee, NARA serves as a voice in the political arena and fights for patient access, reasonable compensation, reduction of administrative burden, and the streamlining of processes between payers for the success of rehabilitation businesses.
NARA also works to provide rehabilitation providers with information and advocacy efforts for legislation and regulations that directly impact their businesses and their ability to deliver quality care to patients. If you would like to learn more about NARA’s advocacy efforts, including the PAC and legislative and regulatory priorities, please contact us or visit our website.
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