Presentations by Senators
Clinton, Dole Highlight Legislative Conference Program
Michael Scott, J.D., Director
Governmental and Legal Affairs
Attendees at the ASA Legislative Conference on
May 5-7 in Washington, D.C., were treated to a seminal
occurrence for such conferences: the appearance
of two female Senators as speakers, Hillary
Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Elizabeth
Dole (R-NC). The only female Senator previously
to speak at an ASA Legislative Conference was Maria
Cantwell (D-WA), who appeared last year.
(Of interest, at least to history buffs within the
ASA membership, is the fact that almost half the
females elected or appointed to the Senate (33)
are currently serving (14) with the first having
been appointed to serve in 1922, for one day, and
the second having been elected to two terms beginning
in 1932. In the 108th Congress, females hold both
Senate seats in three states: California, Maine
and Washington.)
Senator Clinton gained considerable favor with the
2003 attendees by offering strong praise for ASA’s
leadership role among the various specialties in
reducing medical errors. She expressed optimism
that Congress would pass patient safety legislation
this year that would permit the voluntary reporting
of adverse incidents on a confidential basis. She
also expressed concern about the current shortage
of anesthesia personnel and the impact of the shortage
on access to necessary care and reiterated her concern
for support of adequate federal funding of teaching
programs. In the context of the steeply rising cost
of Medicare, the Senator said that the time had
come for us to “demystify death,” noting
that the high cost of care in the last days of life
was often the result of the incapacity of family
members to “let go.”
Senator Dole, who was elected last November, entertained
attendees with a comparison of her husband’s
office when he was Senate Majority Leader and the
“bunker” to which she was assigned when
first taking office last January. The Senator expressed
her profound gratitude to anesthesiologists in North
Carolina and elsewhere who strongly supported her
bid for the Senate. She underscored her belief that
professional liability reform should be a high priority
in the current Congress and expressed support for
the concept of association health plans as a means
to provide health coverage to the uninsured, many
of whom work for small companies.
Also appearing on the conference program was Barry
Jackson, Deputy Assistant to the President
in the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives.
Mr. Jackson emphasized the President’s strong
support for professional liability reform, giving
examples of cases where physicians were abandoning
or limiting their practices in the face of rising
liability premiums. In response to a question, he
acknowledged that his office was “very much
aware” of the patient access problem potentially
created by the predicted negative cut in Medicare
reimbursement levels for 2004 and beyond.
Attendees visiting Capitol Hill offices during the
conference reported that nurse anesthetists visiting
Washington the previous week had touted a recent
anesthesia outcomes study by Michael Pine, M.D.,
financed in part by the American Association of
Nurse Anesthetists. Our attendees were able to carry
with them to the Hill, however, an ASA position
paper noting that Dr. Pine’s results were
consistent with those found by other researchers
— that mortality rates are lower when an anesthesiologist
is involved.
Hill visits by conference attendees also disclosed
that nurse anesthetists were seeking congressional
opposition to a proposal by the Department of Defense
to permit anesthesiologist assistants to provide
care to TRICARE patients. TRICARE is a regionally
managed health care program for active duty and
retired members of the uniformed services, their
families and survivors. A copy of the Department
of Defense proposed regulation appears on the ASA
Web site in the “Members Only” section;
ASA and numerous individual anesthesiologists provided
written comments to the Department of Defense supporting
inclusion of anesthesiologist assistants in the
program.
 |
New York Society members
with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, center,
and ASA President James E. Cottrell, M.D.,
right center. |
 |
North Carolina Society
members with Representative Richard Burr,
middle center. |
 |
Texas Society members
with Senator John Cornyn, left center. |
 |
Alabama Society members
with Representative Jo Bonner, front row,
third from right. |
 |
Pennsylvania Society
members with Representative James Greenwood,
front row, third from right. |
 |
Illinois Society members
with Representative Bobby L. Rush, center. |
 |
South Carolina Society
members with Representative Joe Wilson, fourth
from left |
 |
Washington Society
members with Senator Maria Cantwell, far left. |
 |
A\Manuel Bonilla,
ASA Assistant Director of Governmental Affairs
(Federal); Senator John Ensign (R-NV); and
Danial O. Laird, M.D., Chair of ASAPAC. |
Liability Reform, Medicare
Formula Ongoing Concerns
As Congress recessed for Memorial Day, there has been
no recent movement on the two principal federal legislative
issues currently of concern to ASA and its members:
professional liability reform and elimination of the
current Medicare update formula.
There are some indications that congressional committees
with Medicare jurisdiction are considering possible
temporary measures to forestall a reimbursement cut
next year, but to date, there has been no indication
that Senate Democrats will temper their uniform opposition
to professional liability reform along the lines passed
by the House earlier this year.
return to top