|
| |
Members
of the 2006 ASAPAC Executive Board
|
|
Chair
James L. Becker, M.D.
Waukee, Iowa
|
|
Secretary
Charles D. Gregorius, M.D.
Lincoln, Nebraska
|
|
Board
Members
Patricia J. Davidson, M.D. — Columbus,
Ohio
Steven D. Goldfien, M.D. — San Francisco,
California
Steven J. Hattamer, M.D. — Nashua,
New Hampshire
Scott E. Kercheville, M.D. — San Antonio,
Texas
Robert E. Kettler, M.D. — Milwaukee,
Wisconsin
E. Olita Layton, M.D. — Santa Barbara,
California
Jeffrey S. Plagenhoef, M.D. — Dothan,
Alabama
Richard J. Pollard, M.D. — Charlotte,
North Carolina
Steven Schwalbe, M.D. — Elmhurst,
New York
Hector Vila, Jr., M.D. — Tampa, Florida
|
 s
the 2005 fiscal year concludes, the ASA Political
Action Committee (ASAPAC) Executive Board is grateful
for the work of our valued supporters and optimistic
about the upcoming 2006 election season.
This year marked the end of board service for Brian
N. Vaughan, M.D., resident representative; Randall
P. Maydew, M.D., of Texas; PAC Board Secretary Scott
B. Groudine, M.D., of New York and PAC Board Chair,
Danial O. Laird, M.D., of Nevada. Each of these board
members contributed significant amounts of time, money
and effort to help ASAPAC become one of the country’s
most successful medical specialty PACs. They deserve
our congratulations and thanks for a job well done.
The work of the Alabama State Society of Anesthesiologists
(ASSA) merits special citation. ASSA members raised
a record-breaking $86,686 this year. No state in the
14-year history of ASAPAC has secured more contributions
in a single fiscal year (see
Table 1 for information on component activities).
ASAPAC, your political voice in Washington, D.C.,
remains the nation’s largest and most influential
medical specialty PAC. Founded in 1991 to serve as
a nonpartisan advocate for our Society, ASAPAC has
reached its current stature through the support of
10 percent of ASA members. The average donation this
year by a contributor is $240. Ninety percent of ASA’s
members do not contribute to our PAC. Your ASAPAC
Executive Board is committed to achieving uniform
participation in this essential responsibility. What
if each of ASA’s more than 25,000 active members
contributed $100 per year? Our PAC would generate
$2.5 million annually. Include the residents and those
contributing over $100 to the calculation, and the
political strength of the specialty grows exponentially.
Contributions of this magnitude are essential to maintain
a strong voice in federal and state legislative arenas.
In such a scenario, ASAPAC would become one of our
nation’s 10 most influential PACs representing
any profession or industry, and the political foundations
of issues critical to our specialty’s future
could be redrawn fundamentally. This must be our resolute
objective.
Currently joining ASAPAC among our nation’s
top 100 PACs are PACs representing the American Association
of Nurse Anesthetists, the Association of Trial Lawyers
of America, the American Hospital Association and
Blue Cross/Blue Shield Association. ASAPAC’s
growth has occurred at a time when PACs representing
competing interests also have experienced robust financial
growth and participation. In recent years, these organizations
have energetically participated in the political arena.
This is abundantly evident through the impact of the
Association of Trial Lawyers of America on Democrat
senators currently blocking medical litigation reform.
The congressional budgetary process constitutes an
ongoing review of our nation’s resources and
obligations. Congressional initiatives affecting funding
and regulation of medical care arise during each congressional
session. These issues directly impact our professional
lives and the safety of our patients. Under present
conditions of budgetary austerity in Washington and
in state capitals, our government is reluctant to
increase funding to any professional interest and
eager to cut budgetary funding. In Washington, D.C.,
if you do not have a seat at the table, you are probably
on the menu.
Change occurs incrementally in our Society. Promoting
change requires consistent effort and money. As an
election year, 2006 presents an important opportunity
for ASAPAC involvement. There are 435 seats in the
House and 33 in the Senate along with numerous gubernatorial
and state legislative seats up for election. Historically
approximately 70 percent of ASAPAC’s total budget
is spent in the second half of any two-year election
cycle in order to maximize the PAC’s impact.
Such political activity, in conjunction with strong
local grassroots political activity, paid off last
year with the election of Tom Price, M.D. (R-GA),
an orthopedic surgeon and spouse of an anesthesiologist,
to the U.S. House of Representatives. During the 2005
PAC year, our involvement has continued with 65 ASAPAC
checks totaling $150,000 being hand-delivered by anesthesiologists
participating in local fundraisers. Local involvement
is crucial to our success; please step forward, and
get involved.
In the political world, perception is reality until
proven otherwise. Many federal legislators do not
understand complex medical issues and rely on us to
educate them. I quote Texas anesthesiologist David
F. Gloyna, M.D.:
“How we as a medical profession are
perceived by our elected officials is determined
by what they read, what they hear and most importantly
by what they experience in their daily lives.
I suspect that our elected officials assign value
to knowledge based on how they acquire it. …
An appeal from a constituent to support (or not)
legislation is a very powerful way to deliver
a message. After all, given our democratic system,
we the people are ultimately the boss, with a
job evaluation delivered as often as every other
November. Finally, if our message fails to be
delivered, the only information that our elected
representatives are likely to hear is from those
that oppose us.”
This quote illustrates the importance of having
strong political relationships with lawmakers and
the need for involvement in the election process
regardless of party affiliation. Remember, ASAPAC
manages a broad, proactive legislative agenda on
behalf of all anesthesiologists. The PAC is bipartisan
and non-ideological.
Today the agenda of state and national issues that
can potentially impact the future of our medical
specialty is more complex and extensive than at
any time in ASA’s history. It is essential
that ASAPAC be fully engaged and well-funded in
the political process. Key unresolved issues essential
to the future of our specialty include medical litigation
(tort) reform; Medicare physician payment reform;
repeal of the sustainable growth rate formula; addressing
value-based purchasing and pay-for-performance;
increasing anesthesia work values; scope-of-practice
issues; repairing the flawed Medicare teaching payment
rule, including anesthesiologists for eligibility
under the Medicare anesthesia rural hospital pass-through;
expanding anesthesiology and pain research at the
National Institutes of Health; and a comprehensive
list of patient safety and pain practice issues.
These issues constitute the “life blood”
of our professional future. Their resolution will
determine whether anesthesiology is viewed by our
nation as “the practice of medicine”
and whether anesthesiologists are educated and reimbursed
in a fashion that secures the future of our specialty.
Contributions to ASAPAC should be viewed as an investment
in the security of our profession and an essential
cost of doing business. Support for ASAPAC provides
financial resources to develop strong political
relationships with our representatives in federal
and state legislative bodies. Our contributions
fund our support for political candidates who understand
the imperatives of patient safety, state-of-the-art
medical education and a healthy medical profession
that can address present and future clinical challenges
effectively on behalf of our patients. I call on
each and every member of ASA to embrace this effort
and support ASAPAC. Remember, united we stand, divided
we fall.
Finally, I would like to thank ASA Associate Director
of Governmental Affairs Manuel E. Bonilla, J. Frank
Cassady, Jr., M.D., Steven D. Goldfien, M.D., Steven
J. Hattamer, M.D., and Jeffrey S. Plagenhoef, M.D.,
for their editorial assistance.
 |
| |
|
James L. Becker, M.D., is a partner in Associated
Anesthesiologists, PC, Iowa Methodist Medical
Center, Des Moines, Orthopedic Surgery Center,
Lakeview Surgery Center and Iowa Methodist Day
Surgery, Des Moines, Iowa. He is a member of
the Committee on Governmental Affairs. |
|
|