Sep 12, 2017
Bio
Licy Do Canto is founder and president of the Do Canto Group, a bipartisan government relations firm specializing in public health and health care legislative and regulatory policy, with a particular focus on underserved communities. An expert in health care policy with nearly 20 years of beltway experience, Licy has a track record of building bipartisan consensus, guiding federal legislation into law, and directing national issue campaigns and coalitions. Describing him as a “highly regarded healthcare lobbyist” among his peers, and Congressional officials and other decision-makers across the federal government, the prominent Capitol Hill newspaper The Hill named Licy one of Washington DC’s top lobbyists for seven consecutive years, earning the recognition in 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010.
Prior to founding the Do Canto Group, Licy was a principal at the Raben Group, where he lead the firm’s Health Practice Group, providing clients with a range of services, including policy development and analysis, coalition building, direct lobbying and strategic counsel and communications.
Licy also served as chief executive officer of the AIDS Alliance for Children Youth and Families, a leading national, non-profit advocacy organization focused on improving access to HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment for underserved communities across the United States. Mr. Do Canto is largely credited with significantly strengthening the Alliance's operational and policy structure and considerably expanding and fortifying its relations with public and private sector partners.
Prior to the Alliance, Licy served as the director of federal affairs for the National Association of Community Health Centers, the largest association of nonprofit clinics and health centers in the United States, representing over 1,000 clinics and 6,000 clinic sites that serve over 17 million people. Licy helped oversee the historic doubling of funding for the Federal Health Center program while also successfully managing the Association's legislative priorities on health center reauthorization and the Medicare, Medicaid and state Children's Health Insurance Programs.
While at NACHC, Licy also founded and chaired the Association's Partnership for Medicaid, a nationwide coalition of eighteen safety net providers and other key organizations, including nursing homes, community health centers, public hospitals and unions, focused on improving the Medicaid program. In addition, he co-founded and served as chair of the Association's twenty-two member Partnership for Primary Care Workforce, a nationwide coalition of national professional, provider and educational organizations dedicated to strengthening the health care workforce.
Before NACHC, Licy served as senior manager for federal affairs in the American Cancer Society's Federal Government Relations Department, directing the Society's federal legislative and executive branch advocacy efforts on health disparity issues. He also has extensive Capitol Hill experience, having served as senior legislative assistant for domestic policy to U.S. Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) and held a number of positions in the office of Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA).
Licy is well known to key Congressional committee and non-committee staff with jurisdiction over health issues, having authored and successfully guided into law the $25 million bipartisan Patient Navigator Outreach and Chronic Disease Prevention Act (aimed at helping low-income patients overcome health system barriers), the first piece of health legislation signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2005.
He successfully advocated for, and authored an array of, other key bipartisan-supported health policy issues before Congress, including passage of the Native American Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Technical Amendment Act; passage of the "Rep. Deal" amendment preserving hundreds of millions in Medicaid funding for Community Health Centers; the creation of a $50 million medical home program in Medicaid; a $100 million Health Center Medicare payment system; a $85 million Health Center financing system in the State Children's Health Insurance Program; and the establishment of a $1.5 billion Federal Early Childhood Home Visitation program within the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Licy also served as staff to Commissioner John Rugge on the 2005-06 US Department of Health and Human Services National Medicaid Advisory Commission, established to advise the HHS Secretary on ways to strengthen and modernize the Medicaid program.
Licy is often quoted in the media, including Politico, The Hill, Roll Call, Financial Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, Inside Health Policy, among others, on a broad range of issues relating to health and health care policy.
The DoCanto Group’s current and former clients include First Focus, AARP, the Nurse Family Partnership, the California Endowment, the New York State Health Foundation, the Direct Care Alliance and The MENTOR Network, as well as the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery and the Climate Reality Project.
A native of Boston and fluent in Spanish and Cape Verdean Portuguese, Licy is a 1995 graduate of Duke University, with a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science, International Affairs and Spanish Studies. He also holds a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Certificate in Public Health Leadership from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Public Health and Kenan-Flagler Business School.
Resources
America's Health-Inequality Problem by Olga Khazan (The Atlantic, 6/5/2017)
The Head Game: High Efficiency Analytic Decision-Making and the Art of Solving Complex Problems Quickly by Philip Mudd
News Roundup
Facebook reports $100,000 in fake Russian political ads
Facebook released new evidence last week that helps to illustrate Russia's role in impacting the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The social media company reported that a company called the Internet Research Agency spent more than $100,000 on 3,000 Facebook ads that ran between June 2015 and May 2017. While the ads did not endorse a particular political candidate, they did focus on divisive political issues such as race, LGBT rights, and gun control. They promoted views consistent with Donald Trump's platform. The New York Times' Scott Shane and Vindu Goel report on these and other suspicious ads appearing on Facebook that may have some connection to the Kremlin. Google, on the other hand, released a statement saying it has found no evidence of such advertising on its platform.
Industry backlash against Trump's DACA decision
A broad swath of major corporations and industry groups sharply rebuked President Trump for his decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The Obama-era program gave 2-year work permits to individuals who entered the United States illegally as children. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Telemundo, Univision and many others expressed disapproval. Trump says he'll re-review the program if Congress doesn't pass definitive legislation with 6 months. Megan Wilson and Ali Breland report in The Hill.
Google appeals EU's $2.7 billion antitrust fine
Google has filed its appeal of the European Union's $2.7 billion fine against it for allegedly prioritizing its own search results over its competitors. A spokeswoman for the European Court of Justice told TechCrunch that it could take anywhere between 18 months and two years for the case to reach a final judgment. Natasha Lomas reports in TechCrunch.
Tesla hooked its customers up with more battery juice to escape Irma
For an extra fee, Tesla lets its vehicle owners unlock unused battery space. But the car company temporarily removed the restriction for its car owners in Florida as they evacuated in anticipation of Hurricane Irma. Brian Fung reports in the Washington Post.
FCC Extends s706 comment deadline
Every year the FCC is required to report on whether broadband speeds are fast enough and whether the ISPs are moving fast enough to deploy them. A big part of that debate has to do with whether wireless service is an adequate substitute for wireline broadband service. While democratic administrations have held that wireless is not a substitute, the current Republican-led FCC has indicated that it may go the other way. Before it releases the report, though, the FCC is required to allow the public to comment. The FCC extended that initial comment deadline to September 21st. So if you use the internet to run an online business or something else that requires the fastest speed possible, but you live in a remote area--you may want to weigh in. Wireless, at least from my own personal experience running this podcast, is not a replacement for wired broadband by any stretch of the imagination.
Oracle supports sex-trafficking bill
Oracle has decided to go against the grain in supporting a sex trafficking bill most other tech companies oppose. The bill, which is entitled the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, was introduced by Republican Senator Bob Portman. The bill has broad bipartisan support, with Senators McCain and McCaskill, among many others, on board. Precipitated by Backpage.com's advertisements of prostitutes and opportunities to sexually abuse underage victims, the bill seeks to hold websites more accountable for ads posted by third parties. Harper Neidig has the story in The Hill.
FBI probes Uber over tactics against Lyft
"Hell". That's the name of a now-defunct Uber program the New York Office of the FBI and U.S. Attorney are investigating. The program was the subject of a class-action lawsuit a Lyft driver brought earlier this year in a federal court in California. But the court threw out that case because the driver couldn't show any harm. But essentially the program allegedly created fake user accounts so Uber could see where Lyft drivers were going. This investigation adds to numerous legal matters Uber's new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi inherited when he took the helm last week. Rebecca Davis-O'Brien and Greg Bensinger report in the Wall Street Journal.