• The Association visited with Congressional offices requesting support for Senate Bills S.1680, The Craig Thomas Rural Hospital and Provider Equity Act of 2011, with Recommendation to add Licensed Art Therapists TO S. 1680 and requesting support for H.R. 208 to "Amend Title 10, United States Code, to authorize reimbursement of Mental Health Counselors under TRICARE and other purposes" with Recommendation to add "Licensed Art Therapists"

Duration: July 1, 2009 to March 31, 2012

General Issues: Health Issues, Medicare/Medicaid, Budget/Appropriations, Insurance, Education, Veterans, Government Issues, Medical/Disease Research/Clinical Labs, Arts/Entertainment

Spending: about $20,000 (But it's complicated. Here's why.)

It can be tricky to figure out how much an organization spent on a particular lobbying engagement. The law only requires lobbyists to report the amount they were paid for federal lobbying each quarter rounded to the nearest $10,000—and if it's less than $3,000 in a given quarter (or less than $13,000 for organizations with in-house lobbyists), they don't have to disclose it at all. Plus, some organizations include spending that doesn’t belong in the report—for instance, money spent lobbying state governments or other legal work.

Agencies lobbied since 2009: House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, House of Representatives,, Health & Human Services - Dept of (HHS), Education - Dept of, Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), White House Office,, Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA),