Together We Really Are
Stronger
Ronald Szabat, J.D., L.L.M., Director
Governmental and Legal Affairs
magine a world where organized medicine works productively
together on all the major health, reimbursement and
quality issues of our day. Imagine, too, mutual support
across medical specialty lines, where appropriate,
on matters of prime importance to individual national
societies, matters such as scope-of-practice issues.
Then add to that coordinated lobbying, research and
leadership to achieve our goals in these areas.
Sound far-fetched? Not at all. In early December at
the American Medical Association (AMA) Interim Meeting,
your ASA Delegation and the many other anesthesiologists
and other physicians seated throughout the AMA House
of Delegates were treated to such a message and initial
vision. The response was unmistakably positive. While
just a prototype set to an original music score saluting
the “everyday heroes” of physicians treating
patients, a short, new AMA video clip captivated the
meeting’s attendees and set us on a new course:
“Together we are stronger.”
Already this spirit is spreading and taking hold,
and it started with a major success noted elsewhere
in this
NEWSLETTER by our President-Elect
Orin F. Guidry, M.D. At this very same AMA meeting,
the House of Delegates established important new policy
initiated by ASA. Effectively —
together
— the House of medicine has rebuked the Joint
Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
for its poorly crafted and poorly developed Sentinel
Event Alert on intraoperative awareness. Recognizing
the power of coalition politics, ASA, with support
from across organized medicine, has drawn a line in
the sand against nonphysician groups looking to establish
quality standards for medicine, no matter what the
subject. What an important new policy and position
indeed! This stance will serve us well this year as
Congress turns to Medicare “pay for performance”
issues.
More recently, ASA jointly pursued a meeting with
AMA and other physician organizations to speak directly
with the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration
and learn why that agency took a big step backward
last November on legitimate pain medicine prescribing
(see
<www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/fed_regs/rules/2004/fr1116.htm>).
As a result of our meeting and in answer to
a call for comments and further direction, ASA will
work with its coalition partners to protect and advance
good medical practice and keep it safe from unwarranted
governmental interventions (see
<www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/fed_regs/rules/2005/fr0118.htm>).
On this same issue, we are jointly lobbying, proactively,
to get Congress to advance a sensible state-based
drug-monitoring bill as the 109th Congress begins
its work. Workable solutions come from medicine working
together, not government fiat. Again, “together”
we are stronger, and joint actions will advance our
causes.
On the sustainable growth rate Medicare update issue,
ASA continues to caucus and strategize with many Federation
partners on how best to argue our case in a very tough
federal budget climate, even as Congress begins this
month to cobble together a budget resolution for the
coming year. In the face of across-the-board Medicare
cuts, everyone in medicine can and must stand together
through 2005 and beyond.
In the states, ASA will continue working vigilantly
with our component societies on major issues, but
we also will explore the possibilities of a new “scope
partnership” to determine common themes and
pursue research needs and strategies to promote and
protect quality patient care. Like-minded specialty
societies across medicine must face head-on the unacceptable
attempts to roll back good state laws. This joint
initiative, while in its infancy, is being explored
with AMA and the many specialties continually fighting
scope-of-practice battles. As ASA works with others
to make this a reality, we will keep you informed.
These issues and concerns above are just a small part
of the many projects on which your ASA officers, committee
members and broader lobby team concentrate on a day-to-day
basis. The good news is that we are not alone. ASA
has long known that much can be accomplished for the
good of the profession and our patients by integrated
approaches. Now, and for the future, we can be assured
that as physicians working together, we will be stronger.
The further message for anesthesiology is clear: As
the specialty becomes increasingly more specialized,
let us renew our dedication to ASA as the beacon for
our common good among the anesthesiology community.
Vigilance, always, but teamwork, too!
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