The Financial Accountability Workshop discussed at length the lessons of the successful campaigns in many areas against the conversion of public and nonprofit hospitals to for-profit hospitals and the need to move beyond blocking bad mergers to obtaining laws on access and community benefits. The Quality Accountability Workshop emphasized the need for advocates to form linkages with providers while paying serious attention to the language of the debate, refusing to fall into the trap of implying that health care is just like any other consumer commodity. These take time to form and mature and the key players and constiuencies have to be involved in critical decisions about the nature of the campaign from the very beginning. Spend the necessary time and effort to build a strong coalition. Coalitions are not self-sustaining, and a lot of work is involved in facilitating the groups working together.
Constant consciousness raising education is necessary to keep the participants on board.
Values based political work is what builds movements. People learn from being involved in political campaigns, build a sense of community, and enjoy working together. Grassroots organizing is a tool, not the only tool, but it is important for developing a political agenda to keep people involved over the long term. We need to make it clear how we decide how we get engaged at the local level and how and why we choose our fights. This is a thorny question regarding regulatory battles.