With an eye toward bolstering physicians' influence in state healthcare policy, the Los Angeles County Medical Association's Public Policy Education Fund hosted an April 11 legislative workshop to prepare county medical students for this year's Legislative Leadership Day. Approximately 27 students were expected to attend the event in Sacramento, at which they will lobby California legislators on hot issues, such as healthcare access and scope of practice.

"Howard [Krauss, MD,] is going to retire just fine," but today's medical students will feel the full impact of any state-level policy changes, says Dustin Corcoran, California Medical Association vice president of government relations. Believing it is vital to engage the next generation of physicians in the political tug-of-war, Corcoran flew in from Sacramento to speak to the students and practicing physicians at LACMA headquarters.

Lawmakers and aides are often more receptive to lobbying from students than practicing physicians, Corcoran says. Students have no turf to protect, and they tend to remind lawmakers of their own politically active student days, he says. On issues such as scope of practice, legislators often view the concerns of practicing physicians with a jaundiced eye, assuming doctors are simply trying to limit competition, Corcoran says.

Jonathan Ou, a second-year medical student from USC, says his interest in Legislative Leadership Day flows from a politically active streak he has nurtured since college. Ou's main concern is public access to healthcare, an issue that grabbed his attention when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger introduced his insurance-coverage proposal in January. "Universal healthcare should come in a reasonable way, although I don't necessarily agree with single-payer healthcare," Ou says. The debate needs additional voices that offer alternatives, he says.

Neil Parikh, also a second-year USC medical student, says he is looking for more exposure to the policy-making process. "I've always wanted to be involved, and I'd like to be active during the rest of my career," he says.

Being active is just what Corcoran advocates. "Physicians have largely lost their voice in healthcare," he says. "There is a belief among senior staff at the CMA that we have to put a stake in the ground and recapture the voice of the profession."

At press time, the CMA was the sponsor of six bills in this legislative session. So far, four had passed the Assembly Health Committee and were awaiting examination by the Committee on Appropriations.