First, I should introduce myself: My name is Chris Bandoli, and I am WSHA’s new Senior Vice President of Advocacy and Government Affairs. I started at WSHA in November after nine years at Regence BlueShield. I have a passion for helping to solve health care problems, and I am excited to join the fantastic group of policy experts at WSHA.
And now, to work! There’s no time to waste—legislative session starts in a few weeks. For the last several months, WSHA has been talking with members, policymakers, agency leaders and others to develop our policy and budget priorities. We will always be ready to respond to new ideas as they emerge, but it’s important to lay the groundwork with good preparation.
We also need our hospital and health system leaders to lay the groundwork by meeting with legislators. As lawmakers take up hospital-related legislation, it’s crucial that they understand how that bill will affect their communities, and pre-session visits are essential to building that relationship.
WSHA has decades of experience facilitating these meetings, and we can help you with the planning, and we want to hear from you about how it went. Did the lawmaker have questions that we can help answer? Did they have priorities that aligned or conflicted with yours? Your insights help us be better advocates for you during session.
Please feel free to call me to talk about this and other issues.
Sincerely,
Chris Bandoli
Senior Vice President of Advocacy and Government Affairs
chrisb@wsha.org
