he American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA)
and ASA leadership met at the Chicago O’Hare
Hilton Hotel on January 9-10, 2005. Representing AANA
were Frank T. Maziarski, CRNA, M.S., Brian D. Thorson,
CRNA, M.A., and Jeff Beutler, CRNA, M.S. Representing
ASA were Eugene P. Sinclair, M.D.; Orin F. Guidry,
M.D.; and Ronald A. Bruns. Representing the ThoughtBridge
Co. were Irma Tyler-Wood and Katharine Tyler-Scott.
The Leadership Council (LC) reviewed the work of previous
meetings and the proposed agenda for the current meeting.
Both organizations discussed their continued commitment
to the process and to developing working relationships
between ASA and AANA. There was frank discussion on
the need for monthly meetings in light of the progress
made thus far and the number of issues on the working
agenda. It was felt that joint workgroups should be
formed to work on the issues and problems identified.
The workgroups should present a preliminary draft
to the LC that could be developed into a single text
document and then submitted to each organization’s
governance for approval. This method would be more
efficient and focused on producing an acceptable work
product that could be presented to AANA and ASA leadership.
The group discussed whether there was a need for two
ThoughtBridge representatives at future meetings.
It was apparent that the comfort level between AANA
and ASA was at a point that only one representative
would be needed at this time.
Both groups expressed the support of their leadership
for continued work on:
• Anesthesia Care Statement
• Split Billing Payment Rules
• Teaching Rules
• Medicare Payment and Medical Direction
Rules.
The ASA leadership informed AANA that it was not
able to engage in a joint venture to develop the
Wearing Masks II DVD Series.
ASA will be working with the American Medical Association
to lobby for the revision of the sustainable growth
rate (SGR) formula because this issue affects all
of medicine. ASA will keep AANA informed of these
efforts.
The agenda of the February 26, 2005, meeting was
discussed and was to include:
• A presentation on how the anesthesiology
residency educational programs are conducted,
including the accreditation process, teaching
rules for residency programs and the financial
cost of running the residency programs.
• A presentation of how the nurse anesthesia
education programs are conducted, including the
accreditation process, and teaching rules for
nurse anesthesia programs and the financial costs
of running the programs.
• The AANA Board of Directors and the ASA
Administrative Council have been invited to participate
in the Assembly of School Faculty roundtable-discussion
luncheon to discuss “The Challenges of Recruiting
and Retaining Teaching Faculty.”
• Time permitting, review the one text Anesthesia
Care Statement.
Both organizations discussed methods to spotlight
success stories that have occurred at the state
level and how to develop strategies to encourage
and support these endeavors. One such success story
was presented regarding the Alabama Association
of Nurse Anesthetists and the Alabama State Society
of Anesthesiologists. It was recommended that the
Alabama leadership accept an invitation by the ThoughtBridge
Co. to provide a one-day seminar at no charge (except
for travel expenses). The ThoughtBridge process
will be used to expand the working relationships
between the two state organizations and provide
a “bridge” for future joint projects.
A letter is being sent to the presidents of both
Alabama organizations by their respective national
organizations inviting them to take advantage of
this invitation.
The next ASA-AANA meeting was scheduled for May
22-23, 2005, at the O’Hare Hilton Hotel, Chicago,
Illinois.
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