Legislative Advocacy: An Illinois Physicians How to Guide
From the Illinois State Medical Society. BE HEARD.
Step-by-step,
you'll learn:
01
Who your legislators are – and how to reach them successfully.
04
Best practices for setting up meetings with you legislators.
02
How you can get to know and track the issues important to medicine.
05
On-the-ground tactics that really work.
03
How social media influences your legislators.
06
How your state medical society can make your advocacy even more effective.
FIND YOUR LEGISLATORS
Q: How do I begin to learn the issues? What's important?
The first step in your journey to becoming an effective advocate for medicine is to find out who represents you.
ISMS makes this easy. You can find your legislators by accessing our Grassroots Action Center – type in your ZIP code and street address, and you’ll find a complete list of the elected officials who represent you at the state and federal level.
But there's more. You’ll also have access to your legislators' information, including:
- Phone numbers, political office addresses, email addresses and social media info if available;
- Personal and professional history, including education and political information; and
- Other essentials, including committee assignments and staff members.
TIP: KEEP YOUR LEGISLATORS CLOSE … AND THEIR CONTACT INFO CLOSER
Now that you've located your legislators, put their contact information in a place that's easy to find – on a bulletin board, in a handy file or on your smartphone. Keep those numbers and email addresses together – if there's a legislative deadline, it makes calling and emailing faster.
IF YOU'RE ALREADY AN ISMS MEMBER …
...You've got an even better connection: ISMS' Governmental Affairs staff.
Your Governmental Affairs team lives and breathes Illinois medical policy. It’s important to know who your legislators are and how to reach them, but ISMS knows your state government inside and out.
After all, we've been doing this for more than 175 years. And that makes a difference.
Get In Touch:
- Ask to speak to the Governmental Affairs Division
- Call: 800-782-4767
- Email: govt@isms.org
