In early January the new 112th Congress was settling into its first few days on Capitol Hill. Although the U.S. Senate remained under Democratic majority control, the U.S. House of Representatives changed majority parties from Democrat to Republican rule. AST and its Board of Directors wasted little time in traveling to Capitol Hill following the November 2010 elections to educate federal decision-makers and continue to keep the immunosuppressive patient coverage issue in front of the old and new Members of Congress. Eighty-seven new freshmen Republican Members of the House were sworn in to the 112th Session of Congress. One in five Members of the House are new to Capitol Hill in 2011.

AST, working with other members of the Transplant Roundtable, have set about meeting with every one of the new Members of Congress, the new House Majority leadership and the Democratic led Senate. These efforts have paid off and will soon result in a bipartisan House and Senate introduction of the Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act of 2011. This year's introduction of transplant patient immunosuppressive drug coverage legislation is being led by Congressmen Michael Burgess (R-TX), and Ron Kind (D-WI), and Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Thad Cochran (R-Miss).

In addition, the House Ways and Means Chairman, Dave Camp (R-MI) has remained supportive of getting this legislation passed and onto the President's desk. Congressman Burgess, MD, is a physician and the Co-Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health with jurisdiction over public health. Senator Durbin remains the Deputy Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate. Congressman Kind is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee with jurisdiction over Medicare. Senator Cochran is a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee with jurisdiction over federal funding.

AST has been meeting with these Congressional leaders and working closely with transplant community stakeholders including the NKF and ASTS to develop draft legislation and to reach out to the more than 100 Congressional co-sponsors who supported this bill in the previous session of Congress. The legislation is straight-forward and has been crafted as a bipartisan and bicameral bill to help kidney transplant recipients maintain Medicare Part B coverage of immunosuppressive drugs that are necessary to avoid organ rejection.

In addition to direct lobbying by AST's Washington, DC, government relations office, the Society’s leadership, Public Policy Committee and Board of Directors came to Capitol Hill to advocate for passage of this critical legislation. In June, AST's lobbyists Bill Applegate and Chris Rorick met with House and Senate sponsors Congressman Burgess and Senator Durbin to finalize strategy for securing key support from Capitol Hill and the health care community. AST President Bob Gaston, MD, and the Society's Public Policy Committee Chairman, David Cohen, MD, joined this strategy meeting via conference calls with Congressional leaders.

In addition to Capitol Hill meetings, AST's President and President-elect also met with HHS Secretary Sebelius as well as HHS Assistant Secretary of Health Howard Koh, M.D. on a variety of transplant related issues including patient immunosuppressive drug coverage during the last few months. Communications with HHS have been focused on the Essential Health Benefit.

We are grateful to the transplant champions on Capitol Hill for their ongoing and steadfast support of this important transplant patient policy priority as well as all of the other key transplant related issues.

AST will continue to utilize its greatest asset, its membership, to connect the dots and drive co-sponsorship and support of the Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act of 2011. The Society's lobbyists on Capitol Hill and Public Policy Committee will continue to keep the pressure on Congress.