On Wednesday, May 20, members of the AASM board of directors will join AASM staff on Washington D.C.’s Capitol Hill to conduct 23 targeted meetings with federal lawmakers from both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. AASM leaders will inform these lawmakers about the importance of healthy sleep and the need to support sleep physicians and their patients at the political level. In addition to these promising meetings, the morning of May 20 will be highlighted by a congressional briefing, Sleep and Obesity: a Public Health Epidemic, which the AASM is sponsoring in conjunction with the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. AASM President Dr. Timothy Morgenthaler will have the opportunity to speak to the nation’s lawmakers and their staff about sleep health and the link between obesity and sleep disease.
Through collaborative health campaigns, the AASM seeks to build coalitions that empower physician voices in the health policy arena. Specifically, we will ask legislators to support our Seniors Sleep bill, which will expand the Welcome to Medicare benefit to include a sleep apnea screening to identify individuals with a high pre-test probability of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
To build a coordinated and robust political presence, the AASM relies on hands-on member advocacy and generous donations to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine Political Action Committee (AASM PAC). For your patients in need and the future of your field, please consider making a contribution to the AASM PAC today.
