Getting into Good Trouble: A case study on getting started in organized physician advocacy

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed a lot for many people, including medical professionals. For some, the politicization of vaccines and COVID therapies simply highlighted the role of politics and health policy on health outcomes and patient care. For others, this politicalization was a source of anger and frustration. The Good Trouble Coalition (GTC) was formed by a group of healthcare and public health practitioners in 2022 out of this frustration and a desire to turn anger into action. GTC is “a coalition of Hoosier healthcare and public health stakeholders working to improve life in Indiana through statehouse-level advocacy around issues of public health, patient-centered care, and health equity”. GTC was born in 2022 in response to legislative attacks on public health and the patient-doctor relationship and has grown into a nonprofit advocacy group that focuses on statehouse health policy in Indiana. Here we share who we are, what we have done, and how we have done it in hopes of providing a roadmap for physicians and other health care professionals who are interested in organizing for political advocacy.