Residents Go to
Capitol Hill to Work Toward Better Future
Natalia I.
Brown, M.D.
This May, more than 300 anesthesiologists from around
the country gathered in Washington, D.C., for the
ASA 2003 Legislative Conference. This meeting provides
participants with an update of current political and
policy issues that concern our specialty. Just as
importantly, conference attendees meet with their
congressional delegation to express their own views
and those of ASA, exercising the rights of all citizens
in a democratic society.
This year’s targeted issues included Medicare
reimbursement, patient safety legislation and scope-of-practice
recommendations for nurse anesthetists and anesthesiologist
assistants and focused heavily on professional liability
reform legislation. (More information on these topics
can be found on the “Office of Governmental
and Legal Affairs” section of the ASA Web site
at <www.ASAhq.org/government.htm>.)
Day 1 of the conference consisted of a crash course
in lawmaking and current events. ASA position papers,
current legislation and relevant research accompanied
an overview of this year’s “hot topics.”
Discussions of the ongoing work in the Washington,
D.C., office were presented and led by Director of
Governmental and Legal Affairs Michael Scott and Associate
Director of Governmental Affairs (State) S. Diane
Turpin. In addition, we heard from ASA President James
E. Cottrell, M.D., and Committee on Governmental Affairs
Chair John M. Zerwas, M.D. These remarks were accompanied
by afternoon talks by representatives from state component
societies, the American College of Surgeons, the American
Medical Association and the Federation of State Medical
Boards addressing the impact of issues such as professional
liability reform on other areas of medicine. The day
concluded with an insightful mock lobbying visit that
offered a great, first-hand preview of what to expect
when making a congressional visit.
Day 2 began a dialogue with our nation’s lawmakers.
Several members of Congress, including Senators Hillary
Rodham Clinton (D-NY), John Ensign (R-NV) and Elizabeth
Dole (R-NC) addressed conference attendees. As a group,
we were lauded for our leadership and achievements
in areas such as patient safety and risk management.
We were given advice or, rather, “insider”
tips by these Senators on how to best represent our
issues before our members of Congress. A variety of
speakers, including representatives of the White House
Office of Strategic Affairs, rounded out the day and
contributed to our fund of knowledge while preparing
us for the final and most important day of the week.
Day 3 was the culmination of our efforts. Amid the
halls of Congress, filled with senators, representatives,
staffers and lobbyists, were teams of anesthesiologists
sharing their views and lobbying for changes in the
formulae that determine Medicare reimbursement, patient
safety legislation and medical liability reform. We
met with our senators and representatives and their
staffs to garner support and ensure ours in return.
Resident delegates played an integral role in the
conference and lobbying effort. Twenty residents representing
15 states accompanied their state society delegates.
We participated in the lectures and were in the spotlight
during congressional visits. The assembly speakers
made it clear that we, as residents, are the future
of anesthesiology and medicine in this county and
that the decisions made in Washington will affect
our future practice and our patients. By the same
token, as current voters and future contributors,
we are part of a constituency that has the power to
change the composition of the electorate, and they
care about what we have to say. Your resident colleagues
went to Capitol Hill to express the importance of
medical liability reform to both anesthesiologists
and our peers in other medical specialties. The future
of this reform influences our professional practice
decisions and ultimately affects quality and access
to health care.
This year’s conference was a tremendous success.
As a resident delegate, it was an outstanding opportunity
to meet other residents from around the county, to
learn about issues important to anesthesiology and
the house of medicine and to use that knowledge to
educate our nation’s leaders and our colleagues
at home.
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Natalia
I. Brown, M.D., is a CA-1 resident at Weill-Cornell
Medical Center, New York Presbyterian Hospital,
New York, New York. |
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