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I have started with a fast pace. All matters that the House
of Delegates referred to committees “of the president’s
choice” have been referred. I have appointed the new
Committee on Rural Anesthesia and a 10-member Task Force
on Interventional Pain Medicine to study issues of importance
to this growing subset of our membership. A committee to
prepare the celebration of organized anesthesiology’s
centennial, in 2005, has been appointed.
More than 70 ASA committees were appointed and most have
begun their work for 2002, many meeting at our Annual Meeting
last year in New Orleans. When a society has that many committees,
it either has too many or it has a lot of work to do. ASA
has a lot of work to do, and our committees are our assurance
that the work will be done.
Our educational activities are our core function. They
are executed with such excellence that ASA leadership can
concentrate on our “squeaky wheels.”
From September 11 until the Annual Meeting, I flew nine
flight segments. I expect to have added another 22 by year
end, with about 100 more segments planned in 2002 (this
number appears inflated since I almost always need two segments
to get anywhere from Indianapolis). Travel is more time
consuming and more challenging than it used to be, but I
am committed to keeping all of my ASA obligations. I will
travel to visit component societies and to represent our
interests in Washington, D.C., at various AMA meetings and
at one or two international conferences. The ASA President
usually spends about 150 days away from home, in whole or
in part. I am already committed to about 140 days, and the
obligations continue to grow. The President-Elect and First
Vice-President, combined, usually travel even more than
the President.
Collectively, our 11 ASA officers will liaison with every
state, as will members of the Committee on Governmental
Affairs. We wish to assure close cooperation between state
societies and ASA.
Our most important activity will be to assist states in
which the governor may consider “opting out” of
the recently retained federal requirement that nurse anesthetists
be supervised by a physician. Your vigorous assistance and
support for your state leaders is essential to our success
in this effort. Your national officers cannot conduct these
state-level activities. State governments see any attempts
at “outsider” participation as an intrusion. This
obligation falls squarely on anesthesiologists in each state,
although ASA will provide vigorous support.
We are working with the rest of organized medicine to support
S. 1707 and H.R. 3351, congressional bills to stop the onerous
5.4-percent reduction in Medicare payments to all physicians
in 2002, and we are working to correct Medicare’s persistent
underpayment for anesthesiology services as compared to
the rest of medicine. Your continued support of our political
action committee and your involvement in the political process
at the state and federal level remain as important in the
support of all these efforts as they were in support of
our extended and successful efforts to retain the federal
supervision rule.
I think we are off to a good start, and with the support
of you, our members, we will have a great year!
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