Welcome to the October edition of the Health Care Alliance for Patient Safety (HCAPS)’s newsletter! HCAPS has a lot to be proud of, much to prepare for, and a toolkit to help you propel us towards our goal of protecting patient safety.

HCAPS's Accomplishments

We’re looking back and celebrating the accomplishments we’ve achieved over the years. The doctor-patient relationship continues to be key to contact lens prescriptions, which remain a requirement for patients to purchase lenses and safely use them as medical devices. 

We’ve also expanded our partnership with 46 state optometric associations and 11 additional organizations, including schools of optometry, through Friends of HCAPS – and the list continues to grow. 

Whether you’ve been a member for one month or since the beginning, thank you for being a part of HCAPS. We look forward to continuing our success and making a difference for patient safety!

Looking Ahead: Midterm Elections

The midterm elections are rapidly approaching. Take this opportunity to ensure that you are registered to vote and make sure to register if not. You can also find nonpartisan information about your state and federal candidates here.

As an advocate, it’s important to build foundational relationships with lawmakers and use your voice in support of legislation that impacts patient safety and the doctor-patient relationship. You can contact your legislators at any time by visiting our website. You can also share your story to help us highlight why it's important for patient eye health and safety that patients get the contact lenses their eye care professional prescribes.

Stay tuned for more information on greeting the new Congress in the coming months.

The Advocate Toolkit

We seek to provide our advocates with the tools and resources needed to take action and inform others about issues that are critical to patient safety. The newly released HCAPS toolkit can be used to educate others through your personal or professional social media channels, and even provides copy that can be added to supporting organizations’ websites.

Utilize the toolkit today or respond directly to this email if there are additional resources you’re looking for in the fight to protect patient safety.

Thank you for your continued support and advocacy, we’ll be in touch soon.