The Dental Trade Alliance is launching a strategic advocacy campaign on Capitol Hill called "Oral Health Can't Wait" to educate new congressional members about the importance of oral health and its connection to overall wellness while pushing for increased access to dental care and addressing industry concerns like Medicare and Medicaid cuts.
- The DTA's "Oral Health Can't Wait" campaign makes the business case for oral health while highlighting the connection between dental and overall health.
- DTA coordinates advocacy efforts through the Washington Policy Summit, arranging meetings based on business location and key committee leadership in healthcare, trade, and tariffs.
- The organization works with lobbyists at TSG Advocates and the ADA to ensure consistent messaging across the dental industry.
- New Congress priorities include healthcare access, trade tariffs, and FDA regulations, with dentistry now part of the national conversation.
The day after the midterm elections, Rachel Spivey says there is no time to waste in Washington, DC. In her view, it’s the perfect moment to talk about oral health.
In this episode of the Dental Trade Alliance Podcast, recorded at the DTA meeting in Phoenix, host Kevin Henry talks with Spivey, DTA’s new director of government affairs, about how the association brings the dental industry’s message to Capitol Hill.
A new Congress means a lot of new members, including new doctors and others with healthcare backgrounds, and new staff, many of them in their 20s who will help lead healthcare initiatives. Spivey says DTA will start educating them right away and gear up when the new term begins in January.
The “Oral Health Can’t Wait” campaign makes the business case for oral health along with the connection between oral and overall health, supported by one-pagers on issues such as missed days of work and school that DTA members can leave behind after meetings with legislators.
Rachel Spivey, Dental Trade Alliance's director of government affairs.
Henry asks for a behind-the-scenes look. Spivey says participants in DTA’s Washington Policy Summit attend arranged meetings based on members’ business locations and with leaders of influential committees that oversee issues such as healthcare, trade, and tariffs, all of which she identifies as top member priorities. Just as important, she says, is following up with staff after those meetings.
DTA coordinates its message with its lobbyists at TSG Advocates and with the ADA so a cohesive message is delivered to legislators.
What can a dentist do? If you're a member of the ADA, Spivey urges members to contact the ADA and know that DTA is pushing for expanded access to care to get more patients into the chair. She says Medicare and Medicaid cuts may now be rolled back with the new Congress.
Henry notes that dentists sometimes miss the connection between the industry and the profession. Spivey says she has never met such a vocal industry so supportive of dentists as manufacturers are. Of course they want more people in the chair, she says, but that is the point.
What excites Spivey the most is the focus ahead. She expects healthcare, including access, trade and tariffs and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, to be at the forefront of Congress for the next couple of years, and she says dentistry is now part of that conversation.
Spivey can be reached at [email protected].
