November 1996
Volume 60 |
Number 11
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PRESIDENT'S PAGE
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| Make a Friend,
Be a Friend |
Phillip O. Bridenbaugh, M.D., President
Our national elections are now history, and many new legislators
are now poised to assume office. It appears at this time that
issues like balancing the budget and reforming Medicare will remain
on the legislative agenda. Just as the politicians are preparing
for this task, so must ASA and its membership prepare to be key
players in representing our specialty before Congress. This is
best accomplished by revitalizing and expanding our congressional
Key Contact Program.
As you are all aware, the ASA Washington Office acts as the Society's
liaison to Congress on legislative matters. One of the most important
aspects of a successful lobbying effort is to have ASA members
identified as "key contacts" to members of the House
of Representatives and Senate.
What is a Key Contact?
In the mid-1980s, ASA acknowledged the need to develop a network
of anesthesiologists to better communicate with their elected
officials and thus increase our effectiveness in influencing legislation
pertinent to anesthesiology. This network, the Key Contact Program,
was designed to enlist volunteer anesthesiologists who knew their
representative or senator and who were interested in communicating
with them on issues of importance to anesthesiologists.
Over the years, the ASA Washington Office has activated key contacts
on such issues as physician fee freezes; Medicare Part B reimbursement
for direction of nurse anesthetists; radiologist, anesthesiologist
and pathologist diagnosis-related groups; and a number of issues
relating to managed care excesses.
Our participation in the Key Contact Program provides a vital
and ongoing link between ASA and Congress, which enacts laws and
regulations affecting the delivery of health care and anesthesia-related
issues. It is also an opportunity for us to educate, inform and
work with the legislators and their staffs to seek solutions that
are mutually beneficial.
Regretfully, our current system is less than adequate. During
the just-concluded 104th Congress, slightly more than 250 ASA
members agreed to be key contacts; that figure does not even come
close to having one contact in each congressional district in
the country! Our short-term goal is to identify one anesthesiologist
for each senator and representative. Our long-range goal is
to identify and utilize two key contacts for each of the 435 representatives
as well as four key contacts for each of the 100 senators. For
these contacts to be useful, it is not enough to simply identify
an ASA member who resides in the district or state; rather, it
is crucial that the identified individual have a personal relationship
with the representative or senator, or be willing to work to
develop such a relationship.
Priority has always been given to identifying anesthesiologists
who will serve as key contacts for those representatives or senators
who serve on the committees having jurisdiction over health care
legislation. Votes of interest to the ASA membership usually occur
at the subcommittee or full committee level rather than on the
floor of the House or Senate. Intervention by a key contact is
invaluable when efforts can be focused on a relatively small number
of committee members.
Participation as a Key Contact
Being a key contact does not require a lot of extra time; the
staff of the ASA Washington Office is always available to assist
key contacts in their efforts and provide resources, including
a federal Legislative Involvement Guide, which was designed to
make being a key contact a little easier, and a congressional
directory that lists the addresses, telephone numbers and fax
numbers for the entire Congress.
The goal for a congressional key contact is to develop and
maintain a positive and useful relationship with the representative
or senator. This should be done through telephone calls, letter-writing,
visits to the legislator's office either in Washington, D.C.,
or back home, and political involvement. This relationship will
provide the representative or senator with physician insight into
health-related issues as well as provide the key contact with
more opportunities to voice concerns on issues of importance.
Elected officials tend to respond more attentively (and favorably)
when they know the individual who is communicating with them.
Therefore, any anesthesiologist who knows a legislator
should become a key contact. Personal opportunities to talk with
legislators are an important component of the legislative network.
Those who don't know a legislator personally can still become
key contacts, provided that they are willing to take the time
to get to know their legislators. This can be done by scheduling
an office appointment with the representative or senator when
they are in their home offices, or by inviting them to the
key contact's "office." Many legislators (and members
of their staff) are more than willing to spend a morning with
you at the hospital. Such an outing is educational for the legislator
and is a chance for the key contact to get to know the legislator
in a comfortable setting.
During the next year, I will be working with the ASA Washington
Office and our Committee on Governmental Affairs to strengthen
and expand ASA's Key Contact Program. Every ASA member can be
a contact by informing community, local, state and federal politicians
about the impact of various legislative proposals on organized
medicine and anesthesiology. The overall success of ASA's lobbying
strategy depends heavily on the involvement of ASA members across
the country.
For more information on how to become a key contact, write or
call the ASA Washington Office, 1101 Vermont Ave., N.W., Suite
606, Washington, DC 20005; telephone: (202) 289-2222; e-mail:
<mail@ASAwash.org>.
Make a friend, be a friend. Sign up today.
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