Since its founding, Copic has prioritized legislative advocacy in medicine and health care delivery. The organization states that navigating the legislative process has become more difficult over time, which increases the importance of working closely with partners such as the Colorado Medical Society. According to Copic, these partnerships help raise awareness of challenges facing physicians and allow for engagement with legislators on issues affecting health care.
Copic’s Public Affairs team leads its long-term advocacy efforts by managing resources and relationships focused on key issues like professional review, licensing, new duties and requirements, and liability. The organization says that despite changes in the political landscape, its commitment to advocacy remains central to its mission of protecting and strengthening health care.
The advocacy work at Copic is described as complex and multi-faceted. It includes reviewing new legislation, presenting policies to physician leaders, and maintaining year-round engagement with stakeholders. Community engagement is seen as essential for building awareness about Copic’s role in protecting access to quality care, preserving the physician-patient relationship, and understanding how legislation affects these priorities. This also involves direct communication with insured physicians to keep them informed about legal changes impacting their practice.
A core part of Copic’s advocacy is monitoring proposed bills that could affect health care each year. The Public Affairs team works alongside legal and medical experts to review draft legislation by analyzing language, researching potential impacts, and gathering different perspectives. Collaboration with organizations like the Colorado Medical Society and Colorado Hospital Association helps represent both providers and patients during this process.
Copic outlines a “4 Cs” framework for its legislative advocacy: convening diverse stakeholders; collaborating to combine strengths; coordinating people and ideas; and communicating expertise gained from claims data or best practices across the health care community.
“Getting the right people in the room is often the biggest challenge. It is an essential step for examining an issue to better understand the different parts and recognizing how different interests can align or conflict with one another,” according to Copic.
“This collective view generates insight and action beyond what occurs when individual organizations operate on their own,” Copic stated regarding collaboration.
The organization also highlights its Humanitarian Award—presented annually with the Colorado Medical Society—as an example of honoring physicians making a difference locally while connecting them with legislators.
“Copic’s access to information, such as claims data and best practices, is valuable in identifying risks and allows us to develop programs or resources to address these,” according to Copic. “The knowledge we gain from legislative advocacy is disseminated across the health care community in actionable ways that support better outcomes.”
