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August 1996
Volume 60 |
Number 8
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PRESIDENT'S PAGE
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| The ASA Legislative
Conference and ASAPAC |
Norig Ellison, M.D., President
"Democracy is not a spectator sport. Take part or be
taken apart!"
--U.S. Senator Alan K. Simpson (R-WY) at the ASA Legislative
Conference, Washington, D.C., June 11, 1996
The Legislative Conference
The 18th annual ASA Legislative Conference was held at the Capital
Hilton in Washington, D.C., on Sunday-Tuesday, June 9-11, with
350 registrants. I agree with Bert Coffer's assessment that "this
year's conference was the most interesting and informative conference
that we ever had."
Interestingly, ASA's first legislative conference was held in
1979 in Chicago, but all subsequent conferences have been held
in Washington, D.C. This year, we heard from four U.S. senators:
Trent Lott (R-MS), who was elected to replace Robert Dole (R-KS)
as Senate Majority Leader two days after speaking to us; Bill
Frist (R-TN), the first physician to serve in the U.S. Senate
since 1928; Lauch Faircloth (R-NC); and Alan K. Simpson (R-WY).
We also heard from seven U.S. representatives: John D. Dingell
(D-MI), Greg Ganske (R-IA), David McIntosh (R-IN), Fortney "Pete"
Stark (D-CA), W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-LA) and William
M. Thomas (R-CA).
In addition, representatives of the Executive Branch and others
from outside the federal government spoke on a wide variety of
health-related subjects. The number of impressions and messages
I carried away from this conference are far too many to share
with you. Rather, I will try to give you some of the highlights.
1. Component Society Assembly
Prior to the formal opening of the conference, I chaired a meeting
of the component society officers together with Cherie L. McNett,
ASA State Relations Manager. There was one major change in this
assembly from its predecessors. As usual, problems from the state
level were presented, but to my delight, this year, representatives
from other states told how they had addressed the same problems;
e.g., when one speaker explained how his state's nursing board
had negated legislation requiring that an anesthesiologist supervise
nurse anesthetists by writing loose implementing regulations,
another speaker described how his state medical board had countered
a similar maneuver by requiring that supervising physicians be
credentialed in anesthesiology.
The message I took home from this year's assembly was: The
whole is greater than the sum of the parts. We can and must help
each other!
2. Has Medicare Gone Broke?
The ranking Republican and Democratic members of the House Ways
and Means health subcommittee spoke consecutively and provided
a perfect example of how difficult it sometimes is in Washington
to know what is truth. Clearly, listening to two 15-minute talks
was not sufficient.
On my visits to Washington, I am often reminded of what Tom Clancy
wrote in The Sum of All Fears: "Washington was 300
square miles surrounded by reality. He wondered if the laws of
physics even applied inside the Beltway. He had long since given
up on the laws of logic."
3. The Value of Key Contacts
In the December 1995 ASA NEWSLETTER ("Confessions
of Two ASA Key Contacts: How to Succeed in Politics by Really
Trying," page 16), Michael Scott emphasized the importance
of key contacts. More recently, as Medicare starts its move toward
a single conversion factor, ASA key contacts were especially important
in ensuring that anesthesiology would be treated fairly had there
been a budget bill this year.
The two key contacts interviewed in the December 1995 NEWSLETTER
-- Betty P. Stephenson, M.D., and Bertram W. Coffer, M.D. -- demonstrated
their personal relationship with federal legislators when Dr.
Stephenson introduced her representative, Tom DeLay, and Dr. Coffer
introduced one of his senators, Lauch Faircloth, at the conference.
Clearly, these two legislators are close personal friends of Drs.
Stephenson and Coffer, respectively, and carefully consider their
opinions on issues. ASA needs more key contacts like Drs. Stephenson
and Coffer.
A major ingredient in establishing key contacts is the willingness
to provide continuing personal and financial support to legislators.
Only when that kind of continuing relationship is established
does the legislator begin to respect the opinions of the key contact.
ASAPAC
Table 1 indicates how each
state has participated in the 1994-95 ASA Political Action Committee
(ASAPAC). Where does your state rank in number of contributors,
percent of members contributing and total dollars contributed?
PAC dollars will not buy votes on the floor of the House
or Senate or in their committees. PAC dollars will provide
access to fund-raisers for our lobbyists and members and will
provide name recognition for ASA among legislators and their staffs.
Name recognition is important in Washington, where legislators
are outnumbered 100-to-1 by lobbyists!
Personally, I like to view the use of PAC dollars in a different
way. There is an old political adage, "Reward your friends
and court your enemies." Contributing funds to the campaign
of someone who has supported ASA positions in the past is a material
way to say "thank you." Contributing in selected cases
to those who have been less than supportive may be the first step
in educating them on the validity of our position.
Finally, in my visits to component societies, I have noted exceptional
efforts to secure PAC contributions in three component societies:
Arizona, New Jersey and Virginia. ASAPAC has several portable
booths and displays that can be shipped for use at component society
meetings. Last February in Phoenix, John R. Ammon, M.D., and his
colleagues at the Arizona Society of Anesthesiologists placed
this booth by the registration desk and saw to it that all registrants,
including those from northern states who were escaping (albeit
briefly) from the coldest winter in recent memory, were personally
solicited. In March at the annual meeting of the New Jersey State
Society of Anesthesiologists, Ervin Moss, M.D., and his colleagues
did likewise. Francis J. Balestrieri, M.D., did the same thing
at the joint meeting of the Virginia/West Virginia component societies.
In addition, he went back to his 33-person group at Fairfax Hospital,
Fairfax, Virginia, after the meeting, and every member of his
group contributed to the PAC. I challenge all groups, large
and small, to strive for 100-percent participation.
In a recent memo to component society presidents, Roger W. Litwiller,
M.D., ASAPAC Chair, pointed out that while ASAPAC has never raised
more than $330,000 in a year, this year the American Association
of Nurse Anesthetists PAC raised almost $500,000, with the average
contribution coming in at $500 versus our average contribution
of $125. We can do better! We must do better!
In my own efforts to recruit PAC contributors, I have heard several
arguments against PACs, the most common being "I don't believe
in them." That is fine, but until they are banned legally,
they are a fact of life and we must take part or be taken apart!
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